For just a second when he took her hand, Elia hesitated. Then her hand relaxed against his, allowing him to hold it without discomfort. It had been a long time, but not so long that she thought that her former lover would hurt her – even if he was different, strange. Her brows furrowed at his statement, but she didn't push right away. Instead, she let him lead her away from the bar, leveling a long look at the bartender.
It was a familiar enough look, albeit out of context. The moment after she stepped away, the bartender flagged down one of the waitresses, sending her back to the rest of the dancers with a familiar message. Elia would need her performances covered for the next little while. Usually this was something that happened when there was a particularly affluent customer to be seduced, but it worked well enough for this situation as well.
"No – it wasn't all that mattered. I was worried about you, I looked for you." Despite the protests of her family and his, that had been true. But there had been no trace of his magic, and his father had put his foot down when Elia asked to use his blood to scry for him. There would be no scrying, no more searching. A funeral and the rites to send his magic back into the world, and that was that. Within the next few months, Elia's family had been discussing a new match for her, a new arrangement. And not too long after that, they had all been dead.
"You could have come to me. You know you could have, Ezra. I would have done anything you needed..."