Normally the evening meal was a tale of two halves; while the students all ate in the main dining hall, professors and researchers had the option of eating there, in the teachers dining hall, or in their own quarters. Demeer hardly ever ate in the main dining hall save for special occasions instead usually enjoyed supper in his own private dining room. For the most part Rumple, Belle and Jefferson had been eating in there with him and Leotomas or their own rooms. However, with Prince Horatio and Prince Owen as their guests, a more formal evening meal had been set up in Demeer's private dining room much to the chagrin of everybody but Belle and Horatio.
Dinner might have sounded like a simple thing and it was, though the conversation that went alongside such a thing was the real landmine. Formal gatherings were war zones that Rumple had no desire to enter. According to Belle though avoiding it entirely would have been rude beyond belief and lowered the princes' opinions of Rumple which wasn't an option. That was how he'd reluctantly gathered with the others while Azzy watched over the girls; Amicia seemed keen on teaching Valdis to walk from one end of the room to the other. 'An attendant for the girls might be a good idea in future' Rumple's mind mumbled to itself as Belle and Leotomas worked to keep conversation alive. They could have sat there in total silence for all Rumple cared, as long as the Eris Apple wine kept coming, he was good with quietude.
It wasn't until Demeer had informed them that he'd dismissed Cynthia from the Valkyries following her actions that Rumple zoned back in. Demeer had actually gotten rid of the bigoted woman, surprising. It was only then he realized Phria hadn't shown up for dinner and wondered if she'd been disciplined as well; she shouldn't have been, none of it had been her fault. Nobody objected to Cynthia's dismissal though, Prince Horatio actually went so far as to call it justified. Belle had suggested that Count Alan Stonecrop, Cynthia's father, would surely be ashamed of his child's actions yet Horatio begged to differ. Knowing that man he'd be outraged they'd had the gall to strip his youngest child of her rank and out her from the Valkyries. Count Stonecrop was a rather egotistical man, that was why Horatio offered his assistance to Demeer should there be a need to smooth things over. Scarlette Ravenscroft, who'd entered the vault with Rumple and the others, had been appointed as Phria's new Vice-Captain – apparently she'd been Phria's preferred choice when she'd taken up her post, which wasn't surprising since she seemed exceedingly more cognizant than her predecessor. Scarlette's half sister was a half-elf, so at least she'd treat Phria better than Cynthia had.
When Rumple had finally asked Demeer plainly why Phria hadn't attended dinner, he'd been casually informed that she'd gone to oversee personnel changes and had apologized for her absence. Pretty words snuggling a lie, Rumple and Horatio were good at spotting them but let Demeer get away with it they did; Horatio for the sake of pleasantries and Rumple because Belle had kicked his foot in a silent command to let it go so hard he'd nearly spilt his wine.
Once dinner had concluded when Belle and Rumple had managed to break away from their dinner companions, Belle had insisted they headed for the Valkyrie building to check on Phria. Demeer had been delicate about the situation but, especially after everything Phria had done for Valdis and Amicia, Belle wanted to confirm her wellness herself, something Rumple had absolutely no objection to. So, the pair had made the walk through the Arcane University, across the rebuilt courtyard and into the Valkyrie building knowing that all were used to seeing them appear at all hours. Normally Phria could be found in the training room down in the basement, while Belle was a scholar Phria focused mainly on constantly improving her skill with a blade. However, when they got there the room was empty and silent. Curious as to where their friend had gotten to, Belle slipped out into the hall to ask one of the other armor-clad women while Rumple glanced up at the large window; it would be a cold and cloudy night.
"Are you looking for the Captain?" Rumple spun around to see Jayne halfway through a small door. He nodded and tossed her a dearie. "Top of these stairs, turn left and it's the last door. She's not happy."
Until that moment Rumple hadn't realized Phria even had an office, but he followed the ginger woman's directions and soon found himself in an office a third the size of Demeer's with two large windows and a few lit lanterns above a small fire. Rumple had thought Selwyn Skane's office had been practical and under decorated, but Phria's had nothing but a desk and couple of narrow bookshelves built into either wall to decorate it.
As soon as he'd stepped inside while chastising himself for not telling Belle where he was going, the sorrowful sound of Phria crying had him ground to a dead halt.
"Well, what's going on here, darling?"
The door swung shut and Rumple walked toward her as she hurriedly wiped her eyes.
"I'm fine. It's nothing."
"Oh, I don't believe that for a second. You can't lie to me that easily. I've been seeing liars for over three hundred years, I can always tell even when it's not as blatantly obvious as you."
"Shouldn't you be with the Grand Mage and the royals?"
She seemed intent on changing the subject and, had he not been quite so focused on her tears, he may have allowed it.
"Dinner is over and I want details. Why so melancholic?"
"It doesn't matter." Phria insisted, her eyes red.
"Clearly it does. You're the Valkyrie Captain, you're not some weak-hearted little girl prone to tears. Tell dear old Rumpelstiltskin all about it." He mostly teased her because he wanted information as usual, the Valkyries had just undergone a rather big change in their leadership and there would surely be numerous lackeys of Cynthia's who would almost certainly go out of their way to make Phria's life more of a living hell. Or at least that was what Rumple would have people believe. In reality, he just didn't like seeing her cry and couldn't put a stop to her tears until he knew exactly what had caused them. He perched on the edge of the desk beside Phria who'd been doing the same. "Come on, we sit here any longer and Belle will wonder why I'm not at our wedding."
That comment had been a quip but Phria's tears had burst forth a new so quickly that Rumple had actually startled.
"Don't remind me." Phria bawled. Confused, Rumple opened his mouth but a floodgate had opened and he never got a chance. "I thought I could just live with it! That you loving her so much wasn't a problem, but it hurts. I hated you at first, thought you'd turn on us, but you're kind and good. You take such good care of your daughters even though they're not blood." Rumple had little choice but to listen as words poured out of the young pantherian. "You trained me and my girls. You even won over Yanhil's princes in a single afternoon. You're wonderful and funny and I hate knowing you'll marry Belle because that means I can't have you." Rumple's eyes widened. "I always have to play the fearless warrior when most of the time I'm terrified. I don't have to pretend with you though and I love you for it." Phria let her head fall against his chest. "I love you and I can't be with you." Love him? Phria loved him? Surely that wasn't possible. Maybe he'd been hit with something heavy and this was all a figment of blunt force trauma. "I adore you, Rumple. I adore you and I'm so sorry for telling you any of this because I never wanted to upset you. I know I'm not good enough. I know you don't love me."
Suddenly her arms were around him for a desperate hug as tears continued to pour from her reddened eyes. Rumple had no idea what to do or say, so he simply petted her hair and wonderfully soft white ears for several seconds.
"Oh, darling." Said Rumple mostly to himself.
The office door opened then so Belle could slip inside and Phria jolted away from Rumple in a desperate attempt to avoid causing conflict. Rumple just continued to perch on the desk in a mental stupor. Belle though, rather than anger or outrage, she smiled softly at the elder girl.
"It's all right," said the princess sweetly. "I know you love him, I have for a while." Phria shot up with apologies on her lips, explanations then more apologies but Belle just raised a hand to silence her. "No, it's perfectly understandable. You love him for the same reasons I do."
Rumple finally stood as his brain attempted to wrap itself around what was happening. He knew he was insane, the Dark One had gone mad long ago, but this was far beyond the pale. One stunningly beautiful and wildly intelligent woman falling in love with him was a miracle he'd never expected to encounter in his life of blackness, but two? Maybe it was all blunt force trauma after all.
"How are you not mad?"
"Because I don't mind." All that did was confuse Rumple and Phria further, one with a deeply furrowed brow and the other with drying tears on her cheeks. "It is perfectly normal for nobles to have more than one wife, I grew up knowing I'd not be the only one. As long as I am Rumple's primary wife, then you have my blessing."
Rumple's mouth fell open in an almost comedic fashion. "Belle, what are you talking about? You can't be serious."
"No, I can see what is happening." Belle continued. "I've always seen it. Have you honestly never noticed the way you call her darling? You don't even call me that. You've had feelings for Phria since you met her, you just hide it from yourself because you don't wish to hurt me and have this terrible belief that you're unlovable."
It dawned on Rumple then that he did refer to Phria as darling, that he'd been doing it since they'd met, that Phria was the only person he used that word with. But Belle was everything to Rumple, a true love he didn't deserve.
"No, I love you."
"Of course you do, Rumple, but you feel love for Phria as well. I know that's true and it's rather obvious to everybody but the pair of you apparently." Belle reached up to cup his golden cheek as a reassuring smile settled on her lips. "There's no need to hide it, Rumple. I honestly don't have a problem with you taking two wives. It's normal for gentry."
"I'm not a noble." He deadpanned.
Belle shrugged. "You're a demon lord so I think that counts."
Phria had been eerily quiet for several moments, her head lowered in thought until, finally, she raised it with a determined expression. This was clearly going to be her only chance.
"I'll be his secondary wife. I don't care about primary status, especially if it means I can be with him."
Rumple innately wanted to push the whole situation away. Polygamy may have been an accepted and time-honored tradition in Dreymyr, but it just wasn't done in his realm and seemed very unnatural. He had no desire to make Belle think he loved her any less.
Belle continued to reassure him while Phria was willing to go along with Belle if it meant she could actually be with Rumple. Until Belle's kindness, her love for him would have been forced to remain unrequited. Meanwhile, Rumple had focused on the sudden frequency with which the word wife was being used; he almost felt as though they'd ganged up on him. He did care about Phria, she was stunningly beautiful, a genuine person and had treated his daughters with love from the moment she'd met them. Rumple would have been a liar had he claimed not to care about the pantherian. Belle knew his story, she knew he had to get back to the Enchanted Forest and had agreed to accompany him. Phria though, he couldn't ask that of her when she had clawed her way to the position of Valkyrie Captain. Yes, Phria knew about Baelfire but still. Those green eyes implored Rumple, were filled with so much hope and trepidation. As a coward, he wanted to just runaway, but Belle's hand on his forearm grounded him and, between the two sets of hopeful eyes, he caved.
"All right, fine. I admit I care about Phria, I might even love her. I admit it." He cupped Belle's cheek. "But you-"
She cut him off. "It's all okay, I understand and have no objections."
Belle took that moment to cuddle into his right side while Phria did the same with his left, it resulted in a very confused demon lord stood between the two women unsure of what had just happened and how they'd apparently managed to decide for him. Belle honestly had no objections to Rumple pursuing a relationship with Phria, and Phria seemed to return feelings Rumple had been pretending he didn't have. Still, he couldn't shake the fact he didn't deserve Belle let alone her and Phria. Belle was his true love, he'd felt it even if his curse hadn't tried to break. Then there was Phria herself, she didn't deserve to play second fiddle to Belle, it wasn't fair nor did she deserve such a station. Of course, there was also the inevitability of him returning to his own realm to take into consideration. Surely the good, moral answer would have been to refuse the idea of marring them both despite how much hurt it would cause, but Rumple was a demon lord rather than a legendary hero and the selfish spark of desiring them both – no, he should have just called it what it was and said loving them both – was too tempting.
Phria was a few inches taller than Belle and naturally warmer what with her being a pantherian, her white hair held in a high ponytail trailed almost down to her waist, and every time he saw those polished emeralds Rumple got lost in them. She was kind, brave and smarter than she gave herself credit for. Then there was Belle; petite, wildly intelligent and good-hearted with a natural talent to see beyond what most could. Chestnut hair which hung in delicate curls that enticed him to swirl them around his fingers. A soul as dark as his didn't deserve either of them, they could do significantly better than the likes of him. The evil in him had been so quiet since his summoning, almost as though it weren't there, but that didn't change the things he'd done or his mission. Bae, he had to find Bae! Rumple hadn't once thought about, let alone intended, to make a new family, yet that was exactly what he'd done. Two daughters and apparently two brides.
However, despite all of that, the pair genuinely appeared to be happy with their choice and, perhaps it was the coward inside him, but Rumple found he didn't possess the strength to rip that happiness away from them. The very idea of leaving Phria behind at the Arcane University after such a confession and Belle's blessing hurt him. Maybe he could just be with them until they came to their senses?
So, as they clung to him, Rumple nodded. "Aye, all right. If Belle truly is freely agreeable to this, then I'll marry both of you."
A part of him honestly thought the white-haired woman would back out upon hearing him agree, but she instead grabbed him by the cheek so they could share a first kiss. An explosion of magic radiated outward around them as Belle rested her head against his shoulder. Rumple was stunned, he'd always known true love didn't have to be romantic love – the love a parent had for their child for example – but he'd never heard of someone having two romantic true loves, let alone at the same time. That shouldn't have been possible, and if it was then it surely should have been bestowed on one far more deserving than him.
"I love you." Phria purred and Rumple couldn't deny it further, not when true love was involved.
"… I love you too, darling."
There they remained for an exceptional length of time, the two young women wrapped up in his undeserving arms with a gentle quiet having enveloped the trio. Milah hadn't loved him, maybe in the very beginning just a little, but that had been it. Cora had simply used him; something he'd allowed only because he'd been a deluded, touch-starved simpleton. Zelena's so-called love had only ever been obsession and jealousy masquerading as love. Rumple had fooled himself into thinking he didn't need love, but love was the only thing that had ever banished the lonely coward inside him even slightly. In truth, Rumple needed love more than almost anybody else. Though he used them and poked fun at them, he'd always envied Snow White and Charming, envied that they'd found the other half of themselves while he'd remained in the shadows with beasts, monsters and all the other hated beings.
He had no idea how long finding Bae would take or the hurdles he'd have to clear before that blissful day came, but at least he'd not be alone and unloved any longer. The path may have been long and perilous, the task daunting and almost unfathomable, but Rumple wouldn't have to walk it alone, not with his brave bookworm and winsome warrior by his side.