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Chapter 19
The small town gossip mill started to work overtime as soon as someone saw Belle kiss King Robert on the street outside her father's florist shop and it did not take long before Marina found Belle and quickly learned that the she and Robert were now together. When Marina came into the pawn shop a few hours after his talk at the library with Belle, Rumplestilkin did not think he needed the power of foresight to know what his granddaughter wanted to discuss. He should have known that Marina would never fail to surprise him.
"I just talked to Belle, grandfather", the questioning tone in her voice told Rumplestilkin that he was in for a long conversation, "were you aware that she and King Robert are now an official couple?"
"I know that those two are together, Marina. Now if that's all you wanted to talk about I have a lot of work to do in the back so if you will excuse me…."
"Not even close," She cut him off with a Cheshire cat smile on her face but there was no mistaking the fact that the woman who spoke to him now was not a loving granddaughter but the Queen and rightful heir to the Farini throne, "considering how miserable both you and Lee have been since this curse broke, it was not exactly a surprise to anyone that you decided to let Belle go to find her own true love." Rumplestilkin rolled his eyes and did not even bother to respond.
"No, grandfather, I am here to ask you about something I don't know. I'll even make you a deal. If you tell me what I want to know, I will tell you some things you might be interested in."
But after one look from Rumplestilkin at her mention of a deal she waved her hand in dismissal.
"All right, all right, I'll tell you anyway but I do want to know about this."
"If only to make you go away and stop harassing me, what do you want to talk about?"
"I want to know why Renik allowed you to marry Queen Alicia all those years ago?"
All strength seemed to seep out of Rumplestilkin's body as he slumped into a chair behind a small table, "Marina,that is ancient history. Why would you want to know about that?"
"I am the Queen of the Farini and I am going back to our old world to rebuild a new empire. Why would anyone respect a Queen who is kept in the dark about the history of her own family?"
"Renik is always full of information. I am surprised he hasn't already told you."
"I asked him, of course, but he said it was not entirely his story to tell and told me to ask you."
"He tells anyone who cares to listen everything else about my life. I am shocked there is one thing he actually decided not to announce from the top of the clock tower."
"Please, grandfather, tell me", she pulled up a chair beside his and held his hand in her own.
"I'll tell you the shortest possible version of the story," a heavy sighed escaped from his chest as Rumplestilkin started to speak.
"Over a hundred years ago, Alicia and I met at King Midas' court where we both attended a ball. You could say that it was love at first site for me and amazingly enough also for her. However, by that time she had already asked the commander general of her army to marry her and share the rule of the Farini throne."
"All that time ago, that would have been Danius, right?" Marina tried to make sure she understood what Rumplestilkin was telling her.
"Yes, the most decorated and respected warrior of the Farini people. The one Alicia always said was born to be the king of the Farini."
"Was she in love with him?" Marina now had a confused look on her face.
"She respected him, she admired him, she aspired to be like him. One hero's respect for another was all they shared."
"So, what happened?"
"A few months passed and she did not think that she could go back on her word to Danius. She was going to go through with the marriage. We were so caught up in our feelings for each other and so devastated about having to part, neither one of us thought to ask the most obvious question."
"Why Renik allowed the two of you to meet in the first place?" Marina whispered as if talking to herself.
"Yes, why would a wizard as powerful as Renik allow me to lay eyes on the queen he pledged his life to protect, let alone allow me to keep seeing her for months after."
"I take it you soon found out."
"No doubt about that. Renik came to me and told me that there was a way for me to lose my power besides someone killing me with the dagger or True Love's kiss. Then, after telling me exactly what he thought of my intelligence for spending all my time trying to create a curse instead of learning more about my own magic, he finally got to the point and told me," and Marina saw how tired Rumplestilkin looked, as if remembering that time made him live through it all over again.
"Apparently, Renik studied the magic of the dagger for a long time. He told me that the magic was very old. For centuries, it had passed from one host to the next corrupting each person it invaded and turning them into monsters. By doing so the magic had learned much about greed, murder, lust for power, and many other evils that existed in our world. Now, it was no longer learning anything new, it was simply stagnating, and stagnation meant that in time the magic would grow weaker and eventually die. But there was one thing it could do to preserve itself. It was a risk because the energy required would be tremendous and there was a chance that the magic would destroy itself in the process but it could choose another host, one that was different, and preferably one that was close enough to a different sort of magical power that would keep the host from being corrupted long enough for the magic to learn something new."
"It chose Queen Alicia, didn't it?" Marina barely gasped the words.
"Yes, Renik determined that the energy signatures were pointing to the woman he thought of as his own child. He tried everything he could to stop it but was finally forced to realize that there was nothing he could do. So he came up with one last desperate plan. Put Alicia together with the magic's current host and if the two somehow happened to fall in love with each other, offer the magic to learn about something it could never hope to know anything about."
"True Love."
"Yes," Rumplestilskin nodded and looked down at the floor, "True Love. He offered the woman he thought of as his child to a monster to keep her from becoming a monster."
"He offered her the one chance she had to experience True Love, grandfather."
"That's what she always said too." A sad smile appeared on Rumplestilkin's face. "After that, Renik and I worked together toward the same goal. I needed to keep my power to find Bae and he needed me to keep my power so it would not invade Alicia's body. His gamble worked and Alicia and I were more than happy to be married. The Farini people never argued against anything their wizard and monarch told them and if Renik approved of the marriage then, as far as they were concerned, it was the right thing for the Farini Empire. But there was one thing that Renik still needed to insure and that was the progression of the royal lineage. If he could see his way past a poor spinner's blood besmirching the royal line, he could never allow even the possibility of dark magic to taint it. Of course, Renik had everything planned out. If Danius could not be King of the Farini, his child still could."
"You are not saying that he and Alicia…"
"No, no. He would never let Alicia do anything like that. He used magic to… combine their genes… and hoped a pregnancy would result. I believe in this world the procedure would be known as artificial insemination."
"And Alicia went along with this."
"Sweetheart, Alicia was first and foremost the Queen and protector of her people. She and her dragon fought countless battles against Ogres for other kingdoms to make sure neither Ogre nor another king's army dared to come near Farini borders. She understood that she had to produce an heir to the throne and felt guilty about taking back the offer she made to Danius. The only thing that Renik did not count on and could do nothing to talk her out of was what she decided to do after Jeffrey was born."
"Have him think of you as his father?"
"Yes, and have me raise the child and for the first ten years be an even bigger part of his life than Danius. For the longest time Jeffrey thought of Danius as his trainer in the arts of war. He thought of him as something like an uncle until Alicia started telling him that he was a lucky boy to have two people love him as a father loved a son. When he was fifteen it was getting more and more difficult not to realize whose biological son he was and to give Alicia credit, Jeffrey accepted the situation fairly easily. The rest you know. Alicia and I were married for thirty years. She died a hero's death saving a child from a burning building when Jeffrey was twenty years old. He assumed the throne, refused to stop thinking of me as his father, and made sure his family grew up knowing me as well."
"Renik never stopped him?"
"I am sure he tried to tell him, we both tried to tell him what I've been telling you for years, that Farini royals should not associate themselves with me. However, Renik knew that Alicia would want her family to include me in their lives so he allowed it. He built that invisible room in my prison cell for the same reason. It's what Alicia would have wanted him to do."
Tears streaming down her face, Marina knelt beside's Rumplestilkin's chair and reached up to touch his face, "when you were in that prison cell, Renik said that you wouldn't let me come to see you. He blocked the teleportation spell so I couldn't go there."
"That's right. Of course, I told him to do that. I didn't want you to see me in that cell."
"Did you think that I abandoned you? Did you think that I didn't want to see you?"
"What? Sweetheart, no. I had the squid ink to get out of that cell any time I wanted. Renik built that room to make sure I was comfortable. Between him flittering around like some huge fairy wearing his invisibility spell and all the people coming to see me to ask about the curse, I barely had a moment to properly torment the guards." He caught her to him as she threw her arms about his neck and sobbed on his shoulder. When she finally started to calm down he petted her head like he would a kitten and gently moved so he could hold her face in his hands.
"Now, that's enough sweetie. If you don't stop you are going to make me cry too and I really want to know what you wanted to tell me." Her tear filled eyes grew wide and she quickly dabbed at her face with a Kleenex.
"Oh my goodness, grandfather, of course. I wanted to talk to you about Lee."
"There doesn't seem to be anything to talk about there. Renik has her all tied up and ready to do his bidding as usual. Although I really don't understand how long he expects Maleficent to fight Ogres for him."
"Not long." But Rumplestiltskin did not hear Marina's words.
"Is he thinking about maybe putting that Nottingham idiot in Lee's way to try and make her forget about me?"
"No, grandfather," and now Marina spoke louder, "He is not. Renik has Malenth to do that." Rumplestilskin spun around so fast his cane almost hit his leg.
"Pearlescent and Diagor's son? The dragon died after Diagor took him away."
"Pearlescent died shortly after Alicia but Diagor took their son and hid him. Dragon's are not meant to live without their mates but Diagor lived long enough to teach his son how to survive. After Diagor died, Renik found Malenth, moved him to a safe location, and looked after him ever since. He kept the curse from taking him with the same spell that Cora used to keep a part of the old-world from coming here and he intends to go back and bond Leena and Malenth together. Maleficent will be there only long enough to train him how to fight and carry a rider."
"So there will only be one dragon fighting ogres with Lee. Alicia went to great lengths to convince Diagor to join them because she refused to risk any more soldiers' lives than absolutely necessary. Now, Renik intends to let Lee fight with only one untrained dragon in a world overrun with Ogres, if what Hook says can be believed."
"I am not sure what there is to do, grandfather, but if you can think of something, you better do it fast. I am sure Renik will figure out a way to go back to the old world sooner rather than later." Marina kissed him on the cheek and squeezed his hand on her way out the door.