Alexei was glad she didn't tell him to go and nodded at her offer of tea, taking her offered hand after a pause. "Tea is good," he was speaking in threes more obviously than usual, a subtle sign of his tension.
This was awkward. She was his cousin, the older sister he'd never had but had always grown up with. She had been his fiance... And now was disowned from the family. He wasn't supposed to acknowledge her, but he had few enough people he was close to. He needed her. And as hurt as he was by her betrayal, he wanted to know she was happy. Or something.