Free More Blazing Bedtime Stories: Once Upon a Mattress by Julie Leto, Leslie Kelly Page B

she’d already had questions about her parents, her mother. From the sound of it, she had gone looking for her history and hadn’t found it.
    Because it wasn’t there to be found. At least, not in this world.
    “According to legend, your father stumbled into the outer territories, a desert which bordered Riverdale. He was brought before your mother, half-dead, accused of being a spy. They say it was love at first sight.”
    Penny swallowed visibly. Then the hint of wonder left her. Correction: she forced it away, he saw it in the deliberate tightening of her lips. “This is such a load of crap.”
    “I know how it sounds,” he insisted. “That is why you must come with me and allow me to prove it.”
    “Prove some other dimension exists? Yeah, right.” He’d already noticed the way she immediately relied on sarcastic humor when she began to doubt. Now was no exception. “Are we going to run into the Jolly Green Giant there?”
    “Giants aren’t green. Nor are they ever jolly.”
    She leapt from her chair. “Oh, give me a freaking break.”
    He thrust a frustrated hand through his hair. It was like trying to tame a unicorn, leading her one step forward only to have her pull two steps away. “Princess…”
    “What’s with the princess stuff?”
    “Your mother was Queen of Riverdale. You are her only surviving child. Her only heir. You are a princess.”
    Her lips twitched. Relieved laughter spilled out. “Oh, God, this is a joke! Who set this up, that witch Angie?”
    He tensed. “You keep company with a witch?”
    “Jeez, you don’t give up, do you?”
    “Witches are not to be trusted.”
    “I was kidding. I call her a witch instead of the word with a b because we’re old friends.”
    “Don’t joke about witches,” he snapped, trying to slow his pulse and hide the fact that the hairs on his body were standing on end. Instant defense mechanism.
    Gaping, Penny threw herself down into her chair again. “Gorgeous but insane. So sad,” she mumbled. Scooping up a fork, she began shoveling greens from the salad he’d made her into her mouth, ignoring him.
    He wished he could say he found his late-night repast as appetizing. A hot veggie burger was bad enough. A cold one was more than he could stomach.
    Finally, after she’d devoured half her salad, she muttered, “So who’s this queen who supposedly sent you?”
    “Queen Verona,” he replied, taking a seat opposite her. She was pretending she was only casually interested, as a way to kill time while she ate. He knew better. She was curious. Whether she wanted to be or not. “She and her family have been ruling Riverdale in your absence.”
    She must have heard his dislike for the queen. “Let me guess. This queen is a real witch, with the b though, right?”
    He couldn’t contain a faint smile.
    “And she sent you, why?”
    “I’m a lawman. I track people for a living.”
    She finally sighed. “You know, you are the sexiest guy I’ve ever met, and you saved my butt tonight. But I just can’t believe anything you say.”
    “I know you don’t want to.”
    “My father loved me.” Her voice grew soft, as if she didn’t mean to speak aloud. “He would have told me.”
    He heard the emphasis. “Yes. I’m sure he would have. Maybe he just didn’t get the chance.”
    Penny’s cheeks flushed. “It’s crazy…”
    “But not impossible.” Lucas thought of her still-wrapped present. “You said he died before you turned twenty-one. What if that gift was something he intended to give you to help explain the truth? Maybe that’s when he was planning to reveal all.”
    She snagged her bottom lip between her teeth, indecision stamped on her face.
    “It might be time for you to open your present, Princess.”
    Penny didn’t reply, a number of emotions undoubtedly surging through her. More of that wonder. Confusion. Doubt. Finally, though, it came down to one. The one he least wanted to see.
    Stubbornness.
    “You can’t come in here and