Larissa and Liora stood by the base of the glowing pillar, staring at him as if a stranger had just stepped into his boots.
The flustered Ren from sixty seconds ago, the boy who had been tripping over his own tongue and hiding behind dry, academic explanations of mana conduits because he could not finish a simple sentence, had vanished into thin air. Standing in his place was a young man with his chin held high, a crooked, almost roguish grin tugging at the corner of his mouth, and his good hand extended toward them with a poise that bordered on brazen challenge.
As the ambient glow of the subterranean ley line shifted, the pale crystals tracing the side of his jaw caught the light. It gave his profile a sharp, masculine edge that, frankly, did not do any favors for either girl's willpower.
"That..." Larissa blinked twice, her poise wavering as she tried to reconcile the image in front of her. "That is not the same Ren who was stammering at us a minute ago."
