Loved 5 A Princess is Lost

Loved 5 - A Princess is Lost
Queen Sarah entered the family sitting room in the Palace of Corona carrying one year old Elsa on her hip. She quickly passed her daughter to her husband the King of Arendelle and rushed to her sister, who struggled to leave her chair and hug her sister.
Queen Rebecca of Corona collapsed, sobbing into her sister’s arms.
“Why? Why? Why can’t I keep any of my babies? Why? Am I cursed? Does the universe itself hate me? I try so hard to be good, but they all keep being taken away! Why?” Rebecca sobbed, as she wrapped her arms around her sister’s legs, she had collapsed before reaching her sister.
“There, there. I’m here now. I’m here.” cooed Sarah, smoothing her sister’s mussed hair.
Sarah guided her to a sofa as King Leonard stood next to King Maurice and Elsa. Elsa fussed because of the crying, but her father reassured her.
“We came as soon as we heard. We are so sorry.” Said Maurice.
“I know, thank you.” said King Leonard tiredly.
“Anything?”
“Nothing. No ransom demand, no threats, nothing.”
“The city is so quiet.”
“The city, the kingdom is practically empty. They’re searching the kingdom and beyond. They are leaving no stone unturned.”
They moved to some chairs, as the queens talked and wept. Leonard handed Elsa one of Solara’s rattles, which she found fascinating and proceeded to chew on.
“She’s so blonde.” said Leonard, touching the babe’s hair.
“Yes. Almost the color of snow.”
“Solara is blonde too, like the color of sunshine in summer.”
They look at each other for a long moment, then nod.
“Do you want to describe what happened?” Maurice asked his haggard looking brother-in-law.
“I’ve gone over it a million times in my head, what’s one more time?” Leonard sighed. “The day started ordinarily enough, breakfast, morning report, meeting dignitaries here for the birthday celebration, commissioned the first member of her bodyguard....”
“Oh dear, how is he dealing with it?”
“Sargent Taygon is still out there, he blames himself. We really only wanted him for times when we were away from the palace, but he suggested that we should have a few people for round the clock coverage. He should have been home asleep, he was coming up with names for the first group of guards for her.”
“Seems dedicated.”
“He is. Let’s see. The afternoon was clear for extra time with Solara. The party was a lot of fun. Finally, the lantern launch to commemorate her first birthday, then we went to bed, like normal.”
“Then we were woken by Solara crying, her trouble cry not her hungry cry. She was in the arms of a woman cloaked in black, an old women on the balcony. The old woman disappeared over the balcony rail and into the night. Gone. I called for guards, while keeping Rebecca from jumping after them. It’s over twenty feet to the ground, how the old woman got away is beyond understanding.”
“No trail of any kind?”
“We found a guard dead at the harbor, his dagger and a small boat missing. It was found yesterday in Dead Man’s Cove. A lot of flotsam ends up there. The search is concentrating in that area.”
“But it’s been so long, they could be so far from here.”
“I know. I’ve sealed the borders, but a woman and a child could slip through easily enough.” Leonard shrugged.
“So now what?” asked Maurice.
Leonard straightened himself. “What we’ve always done. We keep breathing. Where there is life there is still hope. We will get through this, somehow.”
Leonard stood, went over to his wife and put his arms around her as she wept into the bosom of her sister.