Garden Princess by Kristin Kladstrup

Author:Kristin Kladstrup [Kladstrup, Kristin]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
ISBN: 978-0-7636-6379-7
Publisher: Candlewick Press
Published: 2013-08-19T04:00:00+00:00

It was late when Krazo returned from delivering Hortensia’s letters. He expected to find the usual party going on inside the house: music and laughter pouring out of windows opened to the night air. Instead, he had a surprise.

The windows were open, but Krazo couldn’t hear any music. And when he landed on the sill of a window outside the banquet hall, he saw that the men seated around the table looked gloomy rather than merry. They were picking at their food, casting nervous glances at one another and at Hortensia, who sat alone at the head of the table, looking sour and silent. When one of the men reached for a pitcher as if to fill her wineglass, she glowered at him.

What was going on? Did it have something to do with the princess? Krazo had been thinking about her all day, wondering if Hortensia had found her yet, hoping that she hadn’t. An impossible hope! Now he wondered if the princess had cried when Hortensia had found her, and for some reason, a catch came into his throat. He shook his head as if to rid himself of even the thought of her crying. He turned from the window and was about to take off for his nest when he saw someone move on the far side of the lawn. A girl was standing at the front gate.

Heart pounding, he launched himself into the air. He flew across the lawn and landed on the grass behind the princess.

She whirled around. “You!” She glared at him and turned away. Her hands were fumbling with the lock on the gate. “Go away!” she said over her shoulder.

There was not much to like in her voice at the moment, but Krazo hardly cared. Just to see her, when he had thought he would never see her again, made him feel as if he had been borne up by a draft of air. “What are you doing?” he asked.

“None of your business! Leave me alone!”

Was she angry? Krazo had seen Hortensia get angry before — all teeth and snarls, like a wolf. But there were no teeth, no snarls, no wolf inside the princess.

He hopped closer, trying to see what she was doing. She had something in her hand — something made of silver. She was trying to turn the silver thing in the lock, but it wouldn’t turn.

“It’s no good!” said the princess. She moaned, laying her head against the gate, and it occurred to Krazo that she might cry again.

He was of half a mind to retreat to a safe distance, but the silver thing, now dangling from her fingers, caught his attention. He stared at it, then hopped closer, unable to believe his eyes. “Where did you get that?”

The princess lifted her head.

He stretched his neck toward the key. “Where did you get it?” he asked.

“It’s only a key. I found it in the house. I thought it might open the gate.”

Not a gate but a box, thought Krazo. A silver box with treasure inside.

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