Yes, short chapter is short, but it was all I could come up with.
Chapter Ten~
King Maximilian was beside himself with worry; his dearly beloved wife Gwendolyn was never to have children but that didn't mean he didn't love her. She was his world, his light, his everything and now that he was on his deathbed he just wanted to make her happy. And what would make her happy is to have a child of her own. With every last Kingly command he sent out four scouts to find and bring back Rumplestilkin in order to make a deal. He didn't have to wait long until one returned with the imp in chains, brought to his bedchambers where upon seeing the dying king the imp cackled.
"Oh-ho-ho! Dear King Maximilian how can I be of service?" the imp asked bowing low despite his chained wrists which he could easily snap out of.
"I want to make a deal with you." the king said before coughing into a handkerchief. As he pulled the handkerchief back Rumplestilkin noticed the blood and clucking his tongue said,
"You should have come to me sooner, saving a life takes time."
"No, I want you to create a life." the king said softly and telling the scout to unchain the imp watched as he skipped over asking in a sing-song voice,
"And what can I do for you dearie?"
"My wife cannot have children and I need you to make a potion or something to give her what she desperately wants." Maximilian said as the imp took a seat on the very edge of the bedside, his hands steeple as he said,
"And what in return are you willing to give to me?"
"Anything you desire." Maximilian said without hesitation and in reply the imp snickered before saying,
"You're first born."
"WHAT?!" roared the king sitting up from his mound of pillows to grab at the imp but he leaped away clucking his tongue said,
"That's not what I meant dear Highness," and with a flick of his wrist produced a contract in fine script writing and waving it said in that sing-song voice of his,
"It's all in the details!" and the parchment went flying into the kings' hand for him to read. Taking a pair of spectacles from his nightstand the king read over it all, taking his careful time to understand every detail before he asked,
"Should the child be a girl she belongs to you yet should it be a boy it becomes my heir?"
"Exactly!" cried the imp doing a dance in a circle before stopping with a gleam in his eye saying,
"You'll sign it, won't you dear king? Tis your only option otherwise you wouldn't have come to me." at his words the king knew he was right; it was his only option at the moment. Taking a quill from his nightstand he hesitated before asking,
"When will she conceive?"
"In a fortnight I shouldn't wonder." Rumplestilkin said brushing off his leather suit from a speck of dust as the king began signing it. As soon as it was finished the parchment flew back into the imps hand and it vanished into thin air.
"Done!" cried Rumplestilkin with a gleeful laugh before he too vanished into a puff of smoke. True to his word, on the eve of a fortnight the king was awoken from his slumber by his darling wife who cried,
"I'm going to be a mother!" but her happiness didn't live long though, for the king died shortly their after. As the whole kingdom mourned the Queen knew not of the contract until the babe was born, a charming little girl named Karissa. As Gwendolyn was putting the infant to sleep she heard an oily voice say,
"What a happy occasion overshadowed by her dear father's death." turning sharply to see him Gwendolyn cried,
"Out you!"
"Not until I give ye a warning Majesty. That babe belongs to me, and I intend to collect on her eighteenth birthday. No matter what you do, no matter how hard you try and protect her she WILL be mine!" and with a twirl of his hand the contract from ten months ago appeared in her hands for her to read. With a quivering gasp she dropped the parchment and with teary eyes said,
"He did—he couldn't have—"
"Ah but he did." the imp said wagging a finger before stepping over to the cradle to look down.
"What a pretty little thing." he said before popping out of the nursery just as Gwendolyn collapsed onto the floor. Not only did her husband pass, but not her daughter, her only child was destined to belong to the Devil himself.
"Oh, however will I save you?" she whispered looking down at the rosy cheeked infant who cooed softly in her sleep. The infant would grow with every year lovelier than the year before, not knowing of her fate until the fateful day she met Jefferson Hatter and his girl Grace. Her mother all those years searched for a way to break the contract; asking every wise man and wizard for advice. The only thing any of them could come up with was her Karissa somehow get the Devil to retract his word.
"But how?" she asked but he said softly,
"In whatever manner she can."
