"No. No, no, no."
I ran to the cradle, desperately hoping I was wrong, hoping Arianna was just hidden beneath blankets or had somehow rolled to the side. But the cradle was completely empty. Cold. Like my daughter had been gone for hours.
"Mira!" I dropped beside my friend, checking for a pulse. It was there, faint but present. She was alive. "Mira, wake up. Please wake up. I need to know what happened. Need to know who took Arianna."
Her eyes fluttered open slowly, unfocused and confused. "My Lady? What happened? My head hurts."
"Someone hit you. Knocked you unconscious. And Arianna is gone. Mira, who was here? Who took her?"
"I don't remember. I was feeding her, singing to her, and then..." She touched the back of her head, wincing when her fingers came away bloody. "Someone hit me from behind. I never saw their face. Never heard them coming."
"Elena!" I screamed, my voice echoing through the corridors. "Elena, Arianna is gone! Someone took her!"
