Read Online The Snow Queen by Eileen Kernaghan - Free Book Online

door. Tears of guilt and homesickness welled up; her throat ached. She swiped her sleeve across her eyes. Not trusting herself to speak, she shook her head.
    â€œSo why did you run away?” It was a game for Ritva, this relentless questioning. She tormented Gerda with her curiosity, like a cat tormenting a mouse.
    â€œI didn’t,” Gerda said. “My mother is not like yours. She is kind and good.”
    â€œBut you left.”
    â€œOnly because I had to find Kai.”
    â€œThen tell me about this Kai. Is he your brother?”
    â€œNo.”
    â€œAha!” Ritva grinned at Gerda, her eyes mocking. “Your lover, then.”
    â€œNo!” exclaimed Gerda. “He is my friend. Only that. I love him as a friend.”
    â€œNeither your brother nor your lover? And still you followed him into these wilds?”
    â€œWouldn’t you search for your friend,” asked Gerda, “if somone had put an evil spell on him, and stolen him away?”
    â€œI don’t have friends,” replied Ritva. “My old reindeer, Ba — and the knife in my belt. Those are all the friends I need.”
    â€œHow very lonely you must be,” said Gerda. She spoke more with anger than with sympathy. Truly, she is her mother’s daughter , Gerda thought — spiteful and mean, caring for no one but herself.
    â€œI could never have come this far without the help of friends,” said Gerda. She thought of dear, trusting Katrine, whose trust she had betrayed; of the coachman’s aunt, of Madame Eriksson and the Swedish princess. And then, with anguish, she remembered the princess’s two servants, who, but for Gerda, would still be alive and safe at home with their own families.
    â€œCome and see Ba,” said Ritva, suddenly jumping up as though bored with her game.
    The reindeer was old, and so thin that his ribs showed.
    â€œDon’t you feed him?” Gerda asked.
    â€œOf course I feed him. He’s skinny because he’s so old. But I love you dearly, don’t I, you miserable old bone-rack?” So saying, Ritva tickled the reindeer under the chin with the point of her knife. The animal regarded her morosely, but did not move his head. Ritva put the knife away in her belt, and blew softly through pursed lips. The reindeer lowered his gaunt head and gently nuzzled Ritva’s neck.
    â€œSee how he loves me, my old Ba? He would do anything for me. He would lie down and die for me, if I asked.”
    The poor thing looks ready to lie down and die in any event , thought Gerda, but was wise enough not to say so.
    â€œBut you —” Ritva swung round to stare at Gerda. Her eyes were bold and black under her heavy brows. “You say you love this Kai. Would you die for him, then?”
    Gerda was about to reply, when it occurred to her that this wild girl might put her to the test. “He would not ask me to do that,” she said cautiously.
    â€œBut if that’s what it took, to save him?” Clearly, Ritva was enjoying this game. She stared at Gerda, unblinking, unrelenting.
    Suddenly Gerda was furious. How dare she mock her for loving Kai? This coarse creature, whose only notion of love was to hurt and torment?
    â€œYes,” she said, defiantly meeting Ritva’s gaze. “If that’s what it took, I would die for him. Have I not already proven that, following him to the ends of the earth?”
    At this, Ritva made a rude noise. “The ends of the earth! What could you know about the ends of the earth?” And she stamped off across the straw-littered floor, raising a cloud of dust and flies. Gerda met Ba’s doleful, eloquent gaze. She had the uneasy feeling that the conversation had not been about Kai, or herself, or the reindeer, at all.

    Ritva tossed sleeplessly in the white summer night. Finally she pushed herself up on one elbow and stared down at Gerda. “So how did you get here, anyway?” No response. She