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Straff Venture rides out from his camp at twilight with fifty soldiers behind him and Zane walking at his stirrup. He has chosen the horse over the carriage to look like a commander; he is afraid of the mist and the dark and the memory of the girl's touch on his emotions, and keeping a Mistborn son at his side makes none of it easier.

He uses the ride to tell Zane he has failed. Elend Venture and Cett are both still alive, the Mistborn is still in the city, and six of Straff's hidden Allomancer bastards — a full third of the patient lifetime's work he has bred up through his mistresses — are dead in the Assembly Hall for it. Zane apologises, says he had expected the crowd and the close quarters to keep the girl from using coins. He is hiding something. Straff suspects him sent the men to die on purpose and cannot work out why. Zane mutters to himself a moment, snaps back, and tells his father not to worry — the city will still be his, one way or another.

Movement in the mist ahead. Straff halts his column; Ferson Penrod rides forward with fifty soldiers of his own. Penrod congratulates him on his son's survival with a courtier's lie and confirms he is ready to deliver the city. Philen and his merchants want the titles Cett promised them; Straff waves it through. He needs the tax revenue, and besides he honours business agreements. Penrod says he does not trust Cett — and they both know he does not trust Straff either — but Straff is a Luthadel nobleman and a known quantity, and he runs the most stable kingdom in the dominances. The compliment is meant to be civil. Straff cuts him for sounding like his foolish son. Penrod stiffens; Straff holds his eye until the new king looks down.

He then floats the larger offer. The land has had no kings for a long time, and he is no Lord Ruler — but he could be an emperor. Penrod could keep his crown as a subject king beneath one. The price is exorbitant: the atium. Straff knows what was mined out of the geodes over decades and what was paid back out to the nobility, and he knows the difference is still in the city somewhere. Penrod catches himself, addresses Straff as "my lord," and promises to look. He passes on what his spy on the Mistborn's cooking staff has reported — she is bedbound and refusing food — but warns Straff off poisoning her. Straff still will not move in until the creature is dealt with; only Zane can deal with her; and trusting Zane terrifies him almost as much as she does.

He dismisses Penrod into the mist and turns to find Zane beside him in silence. Zane asks whether Penrod would really deliver the atium if he found it. Straff thinks not — and thinks it will be easier to take from him than to find on his own. The answer seems to satisfy Zane, who glances at the sky and asks his father the time. Straff checks his pocket watch: eleven seventeen. Zane nods. "It should have taken effect by now."

Straff flares tin, shuts his eyes, and feels it — another poison. He runs through the catalogue in his head: not Gurwraith, not Tompher, maybe one he has never even logged. Zane grants him another grim, haunting smile, says "you win again," and shoots upward into the mist. Straff turns his horse, holds his decorum for a stretch he hopes is convincing, and then breaks into a gallop. He leaves his guard behind. He almost rides one of his own pickets down. He charges right up to his tent, throws back the flap, and shouts for Amaranta.

Amaranta arrives unusually quickly and mixes her catch-all antidote. Straff gulps the foul draught and feels his strength begin to come back immediately, and by the time the cup is empty he has arrived at the only conclusion that matters. Atium bribes are not motivating Zane any more. The Assembly Hall gambit was proof: Zane is willing to slaughter Straff's own children to chase his own purposes, and cannot be trusted with the smallest task. Zane has to die.