He’d failed that test.
“My lord,” Tillaume said, stepping closer. “May I speak … boldly, for a moment?”
“You may.”
“The city has a large number of constables,” Tillaume said. “And they are quite capable in their jobs. Our house, however, has but one high lord. Thousands depend on you, sir.” Tillaume nodded his head in respect, then moved to begin lighting some candles in the bedroom.
The butler’s words were true. House Ladrian was one of the most powerful in the city, at least historically. In the city’s government, Wax represented the interests of all of the people his house employed. True, they’d also have a representative based on votes in their guild, but it was Wax they depended on most.
His house was nearly bankrupt—rich in potential, in holdings, and in workers, but poor in cash and connections because of his uncle’s foolishness. If Wax didn’t do something to change that, it could mean jobs lost, poverty, and collapse as other houses pounced on his holdings and seized them for debts not paid.
Wax ran his thumbs along his Sterrions. The constables handled those street toughs just fine, he admitted to himself. They didn’t need me. This city doesn’t need me, not like Weathering did.
He was trying to cling to what he had been. He wasn’t that person any longer. He couldn’t be. But people did need him for something else.
“Tillaume,” Wax said.
The butler looked back from the candles. The mansion didn’t have electric lights yet, though workmen were coming to install them soon. Something his uncle had paid for before dying, money Wax couldn’t recover now.
“Yes, my lord?” Tillaume asked.
Wax hesitated, then slowly pulled his shotgun from its place inside his coat and set it into the trunk beside his bed, placing it beside a companion he’d left there earlier. He took off his mistcoat, wrapping the thick material over his arm. He held the coat reverently for a moment, then placed it in the trunk. His Sterrion revolvers followed. They weren’t his only guns, but they represented his life in the Roughs.
He closed the lid of the trunk on his old life. “Take this, Tillaume,” Wax said. “Put it somewhere.”
“Yes, my lord,” Tillaume said. “I shall have it ready for you, should you need it again.”
“I won’t be needing it,” Wax said. He had given himself one last night with the mists. A thrilling climb up the tower, an evening spent with the darkness. He chose to focus on that—rather than his failure with the toughs—as his night’s accomplishment.
One final dance.
“Take it, Tillaume,” Wax said, turning away from the trunk. “Put it somewhere safe, but put it away. For good.”
“Yes, my lord,” the butler said softly. He sounded approving.
And that, Wax thought, is that. He then walked into the washroom. Wax the lawkeeper was gone.
It was time to be Lord Waxillium Ladrian, Sixteenth High Lord of House Ladrian, residing in the Fourth Octant of Elendel City.
Order The Alloy of Law Now!
Tor Books by Brandon Sanderson
Note: Within series, books are best read in listed order.
THE STORMLIGHT ARCHIVE
With more than ten years spent in research, world-building, and writing, The Stormlight Archive is a true epic in the making, a multivolume masterpiece in the grand tradition of The Wheel of Time®.
The Way of Kings
Words of Radiance
THE MISTBORN
This modern fantasy classic dares to ask a simple question: What if the hero of prophecy fails, and the Dark Lord takes over? What follows is a story full of surprises and political intrigue, driven by a memorable heist crew.
Mistborn
The Well of Ascension
The Hero of Ages
Three hundred years after the events of The Hero of Ages, the world is on the verge of modernity, but one scion returning from the Roughs discovers that the civilized world isn’t as civilized as he’d thought.
The Alloy of Law
Shadows of Self
The Bands of Mourning
ALCATRAZ VERSUS THE EVIL LIBRARIANS
On his thirteenth birthday, foster child Alcatraz Smedry gets a bag of sand in the mail—his only inheritance from his father and mother. He soon learns that this is no ordinary bag of sand when it is quickly stolen by the cult of evil Librarians who secretly rule the world. It is up to Alcatraz and his band of freedom fighters to bring an end to their tyranny.
Alcatraz versus the Evil Librarians
Alcatraz versus the Scrivener’s Bones
Alcatraz versus the Knights of Crystallia
Alcatraz versus the Shattered Lens
OTHER WORKS
Fleet, fun, and full of surprises, this is a rare epic fantasy debut that doesn’t recycle the classics. A city and people go from blessed to bewitched, but when the latest outcast arrives, he brings something new—hope.
Elantris
Elantris Tenth Anniversary Author’s Definitive Edition
By using Breath and the color in everyday objects, miracles and mischief can be accomplished—and are. But it will take considerable quantities of each for two sisters and a Returned god as they face the challenges ahead.
Warbreaker
While Joel’s mind for figures would make him a genius with the magic of Rithmatics, he doesn’t have the spark. But he could be the only one able to protect the other students when they start disappearing. A new favorite of YA readers, this fantasy has lively and feisty characters and an inventive and detailed magic system.
The Rithmatist
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This is a work of fiction. All of the characters, organizations, and events portrayed in this novel are either products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously.
THE HERO OF AGES: BOOK THREE OF MISTBORN
Copyright © 2008 by Dragonsteel Entertainment, LLC
All rights reserved.
Edited by Moshe Feder
Maps and interior art by Isaac Stewart
A Tor Book Published by Tom Doherty Associates, LLC 175 Fifth Avenue New York, NY 10010
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Tor® is a registered trademark of Tom Doherty Associates, LLC.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Sanderson, Brandon.
The hero of ages / Brandon Sanderson.—1st ed.
p. cm.—(Mistborn ; bk. 3)
“A Tom Doherty Associates book.”
ISBN-13: 978-0-7653-1689-9
ISBN-10: 0-7653-1689-7
I. Title.
PS3619.A533 H47 2008
813'.6—dc22
2008031067
First Edition: October 2008
Printed in the United States of America
0 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
eISBN 9781429989817
Mistborn Trilogy Page 229