There weren't many people willing to stand up to Cassandra Pentaghast, and fewer still who would dare to do so after she had physically struck them. (Mostly because those she struck usually met the edge of her sword rather than the palm of her hand, and were in no position to stand up at all.)

When Varric snapped right back and actually shook his finger at her, all she could do was blink in surprise. He dared - he dared to bring up Evelyn again, and sick bile rose in her throat, but Varric plowed on without so much as a pause to allow her to interrupt.

She opened her mouth to do so anyway, her brows already drawing down in indignant anger, the automatic denial already on her tongue - and then the actual words he was saying finally registered, and her vicious retort died in her throat.

She stared at him wordlessly for a moment, and then turned away, face hard and shoulders hunched with tension.

"She is dead, Varric," she says at last, but the fury is gone now. She feels...tired, and sad, and helpless. "She is dead, and it is -"

She stops herself before she can say it again, before he has to insist once more that it isn't true, and swallows.

"She is dead, and she should not be."