Elena leaned on Gabriel's back as they rode back to the capital. The memories they had made under the purple tree lit her face with a smile whenever she reminisced over them. Her line of thought was however cut short when she heard the tolling of bells from a distance.
"What was that?" She asked. Gabriel halted on a cliff where he had a bird's eye view of the capital. The tolling of the bell signaled only two things: a call for convening in the temple of gods and the death of a loyalty. It was not a temple day. Could it be what he was thinking? His grip on the reins tightened, a knot tightened in his stomach.
"Father's dead," he announced with no hint of emotion in his voice.
Elena was however dumbstruck, a thousand questions racing through her mind. She had seen the king earlier in the day and he looked all fine. And from what she read, vampires lived longer than humans, especially the stronger ones.
