Suddenly it seemed his choice of words were stupid in the extreme. It would all be easier, or at least clearer, if Magnus simply said what he meant. He was in love with Alec, would be for the foreseeable future, and could not move on from him any time soon, even if he wanted to. But he was scared that that level of directness would send Alec running for the hills. Now he'd talked himself into a corner where the simplest course of action was to explain that they had been together, happily together, for a good span of time. But, again, Magnus did not want to send Alec running.

"Maybe I don't," he hedged, forcing a stiff-shouldered shrug, letting his eyes wander over the small party. "Not for certain." Maybe things were different in Darrow. Hell, Alec was reticent at the best of times. Maybe he had found someone else to fix his attentions upon and Magnus didn't know about it because no one knew about it.

"Maybe it's different here. But back home, I knew. It was said and shown, and I knew." Magnus worried the inside of his bottom lip and glanced nervously at Alec, hoping that that wasn't too much.