Cassandra barely hears it. She's nowhere near finished.

"I spent two years in hiding in the city, while the two who murdered my family took over as the new Lord and Lady. The Briarwoods. They killed any of the lower nobles who opposed them, and installed their own creatures in their places. They wouldn't let anyone leave, to keep word of what they'd done from spreading. To maintain their legitimacy," and for the first time there's an emotion in her voice, a deep bitter scorn, "as Whitestone's new rulers. The townspeople started a resistance, in hiding. I was ... their figurehead, I suppose. Their banner. The last living de Rolo. I worked with them to make a plan, to enter the castle in secret and kill the usurpers."

A pause, as she gathers herself for the next part.