"It wasn't a hard guess," Ren replied with a sigh as he leaned back. "The guy was a coward... He knew he couldn't breach the capital's wards since it's probably Jace they're after, so he went after the next best thing to mess with Jace's head… you. I figured he might pull a stunt like that, so I sent the necklace. Don't overthink it."
Astrid slowly shook her head with her golden hair spilling over her shoulders.
She didn't buy his casual dismissal.
She told him what had happened out there in the mud. She kept it brief, but her voice shook slightly when she mentioned the Void-Stalker ambush.
She admitted how her muscles had locked up, how she had been caught completely off-guard and how those shadowy claws had been mere inches away from severing her spine.
"I'm an A-rank mage," Astrid murmured, her blue eyes locked onto his golden ones. "I actually thought I had enough firepower to hold the eastern flank by myself. I thought I could just blast his vanguard until they broke…"
