"She, she what?" Jocelynn said as her stomach twisted and tied itself into knots. Percivus had timed his revelation carefully, waiting until Jocelynn was licking the bowl clean before revealing that the meal had come from Eleanor and that her cousin was suffering in order to provide it to her. Now, Jocelynn couldn't give the food back if she wanted to, and Percivus knew it.
"She's been very stubborn about keeping your secrets," Percivus said, hanging his head in a show of disappointment. "But no one can endure forever. It might have taken a few days with a lash in a cell that isn't as warm or luxurious as yours, but she's finally learned that it's better to cooperate with the Inquisition than to defy it," he said.
His hardened hazel eyes seemed to bore into Jocelynn's trembling eyes, and the corner of his lips turned upward in the faintest of genuine smiles when he saw moisture collecting in her eyes as she imagined what Eleanor must have endured these past several days.
