BRAN
"Ariti doesn't hesitate to torture her whenever I fail to carry out his orders and on that day before my birthday, he tortured her for a long time and made me watch, knowing that I was helpless to stop it." Her voice broke and a small sob escaped her, but she swallowed it back down. Bran's chest tightened. "Then came the day when he finally broke me—my birthday."
"No way." Bran couldn't believe it, but she just shrugged.
"The previous day, all through when he tortured my mother, I threw up continuously. The next day when he told me that she was going to get the same treatment if I didn't do what he wanted, I knew that I had to do it." She shook her head, eyes downcast as she stared absently at a spot on her dress. "I couldn't let him continue torturing my mother. I love her
