Chapter 11: Cursed
Deserea didn't respond, but continued to stare out into the darkness and the mist.
Almost all the lamps were out at this hour. Early in the evenings, the mist would glow from the lights of all the buildings, especially the great keeps, casting the shadows of the rooftops into sharp relief. By now, the buildings blended with the blackness of the sky, dotted with the occasional bobbing lantern of a patrolling guard.
Lyvia had become much more than a business partner. She was a mentor and friend, practically a sister, but she never questioned Deserea about her past. Ha! Of course she wouldn't— Vee probably already knew.
Maybe that was why she took her in.
*****
Those who know Deserea Entrone by reputation know her to be a somewhat enigmatic noblewoman of high reputation but unclear means and background. They subsequently dismiss her as one of the many obscure daughters of one house or another, kept in her lifestyle of lavish parties and expensive dresses by some rich benefactor.
Those who delve a little deeper know that on the contrary, she has no ties to any house, and supports herself as an escort, a profession at which she is superbly skilled. Those fortunate enough to pay her high fees and enjoy a night of her company would upgrade that assessment to 'supremely skilled.'
Those clients that ask about her background will be told a tragic tale of how her family were attacked by bandits while traveling. That her father ordered her to flee into the woods while he fought them off, and as a result, only she escaped alive to make her own way in the world…
On a second or third appointment, a client might learn that—far from a valiant defender killed by bandits—her father was a hard and cruel man, and hear the tragic tale of her stern upbringing; how he would beat her for the slightest infraction, and how she fled one night for Luthadel to start anew, free from his grasping control…
On becoming a regular client, Deserea might confess that her family's dark secret was even worse that that, and then tell the tragic tale of how her father had been found guilty of treason by the Steel Ministry, and ended up executed, his house's lands and assets seized, with her barely escaping with nothing but her life, fearing to this day that the ministry might discover her true identity…
Those who earned her trust would be told the "real" secret of her past, and hear the tragic tale of how she was forced to kill her father in self defence… or poison him as punishment for his crimes… or stab him in his sleep in revenge. Depends what she feels will play best to the gentleman listening…
She likes telling "tragic tales" about her father. The ones where he dies a horrible death are her favorite.
And of course, she hardly has to think about rioting her audience's emotions to elicit the maximum compassion and sympathy for her plight, rendering each fresh layer of "truth" yet more heartrending.
"Such a sad tale," they say, "Here, take double what we agreed." Ha.
In truth—in actual truth—Deserea Entrone never knew her father, and has no idea if he's living or dead, though she is hopeful it's the latter.
The closest she ever came to telling the real truth was when she once told a client how her father had sold her into slavery to pay off gambling debts, and she had ended up living as a skaa. When the client asked her what her real name was, she stumbled and said, "Elsin."
Elsin really was her name. She really did live for a time as a skaa, about 16 years, from birth to when she first started impersonating a noble.
It all began with the family curse. The women in Elsin's ancestry were cursed with being beautiful.
And beauty truly was a curse when you were a skaa. As her mother told it, many of Elsin's relatives had met their end by catching the eye of a noble. It was only a string of luck that had allowed enough of them to survive for Elsin to even be born.
That's how the Lord Ruler designed it. A noble could take any skaa without punishment granted he killed her afterwards, just to prevent noble blood from being diluted.
All this meant that Elsin was unsurprised when eventually a noble decided that his night of pleasure was worth more than her life. Unsurprised, but not unprepared.
The noble was surprised though.
Skaa women are supposed to be submissive, skaa women aren't supposed to fight back. And most importantly, skaa women aren't supposed to be armed.
Elsin didn't really know how to use the dagger. Fortunately, she didn't need to.
Her first wild swing caught him in the throat, silencing any attempt to cry for help. As he clutched at his wound, it left his belly open for a second strike, and then as he fell, a third and….
...She ended up stabbing him until her arms were too tired to continue.
The money and jewels she pocketed from the corpse were enough for her to cover her tracks, buy new clothes and live for several weeks in anonymity.
That was when she hit upon the idea that she might be able to turn her family's curse to her advantage. To turn it instead into a curse on the nobility. It took no effort to seduce nobles. Unless she went out of her way to hide herself, they seemed to flock to her.
The second kill was much easier.
It seemed like an excellent scam, and allowed her lifestyle to grow increasingly lavish on stolen riches. She would dress down as a vulnerable skaa, lure nobles in, then rob them of their wealth and their lives. The rest of the time she would dress like a noblewoman, safe and protected by her status. She decided that she didn't hate everything about the nobility, just the men.
Everything went fine until one night she caught the eye of a group of several young noblemen. It turned brutal.
Just as there was no hope for her survival, a mistborn dropped from a nearby rooftop and slaughtered them in a flash of flying steel.
He threw Elsin a grin and told her she should be more careful with her rioting.
A rioter? Her??
All this time, she assumed her life had been the result of her family's curse, when in all likelihood, she'd been unconsciously using her powers to riot men's attraction to her—powers she didn't realize she had.
Most likely she had snapped during the first attack she suffered and the resulting kill. Her mother had always told her that the family had some noble blood in it, and once Elsin snapped as a misting, she knew it must be true. Only those from noble bloodlines ever became mistings or mistborns.
Knowing what she was, how to use her powers, and most of all, getting access to a good supply of zinc to fuel her rioting opened up a world of possibilities.
While the prospect of working in the skaa underground as a rioter had its appeal, Elsin wanted to set her sights higher. So far she had been hunting and trapping nobles, luring them in to be killed so she could steal whatever riches they had on them. But how much better instead to farm and cultivate nobles, keep them and their riches coming back over and over.
She would need to work out the details, and before she made her entrance in the city's noble scene, she would need money and practice, but she had time to kill to acquire both.
Time… and nobles.
*****
CREATORS' THOUGHTS 
slowestcook
slowestcook Yes, yes… Now back to the meeting!
Meeting… whom??
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone