Chapter 1 - prologue

Far away, in a time long forgotten there was a kingdom by the name of Tenuis that thrived for thousands of years through the wisdom of generations of kings. But all great kingdoms are doomed to fall whether through war, pestilence or disaster and Tenuis proved to be no exception.

King Edwin died quite suddenly when he was thrown from his horse during a hunting party leaving his kingdom in the hands of his sixteen year old son and only heir, Edric.

The boy had never shown an interest in politics, preferring to enjoy all the trappings of royalty without any of the responsibility of ruling. However, the king's advisors held hope that they might be able to guide the young king and shape him into a good ruler.

Alas, they were mistaken. The young King Edric's greed was only matched by his vanity. He squandered his nations wealth on foolish vanity projects; commissioning grand murals and statues in his honour and inciting wars against other kingdoms over petty squabbles and imagined slights.

On the verge of bankruptcy having taxed his people into poverty and with few allies left the foolhardy king was finally ready to listen to his advisors.

"A good match with a Princess from another kingdom could prove advantageous. It would secure an ally and aid our, er, financial situation, your Majesty." said Lord Ivan.

"Indeed," agreed Lord Hamond. "I believe King Edmund of Adipos is looking for a husband for his daughter, the Princess Lyra."

"Quite the lovely young maiden by all accounts," said Lord Ivan, trying in vain to interest the young King who was slumped in his throne like a sullen teenager.

"Adipos' primary interest is agricultural, they seldom become involved in politics. I believe King Edmund would overlook our recent disputes."

His advisors did not tell King Edric that the women of Adipos were as ripe as the crops that grew on their fertile land. He agreed to make Princess Lyra his Queen having only seen a single portrait of her from the neck up. His bride arrived in Tenuis on the day of their wedding a plump beauty of almost three hundred pounds.

King Edric watched in horror as his bride to be held out a chubby hand to one of the servants to help her lower her bulk out of her carriage. He supposed she might have a pretty face if it wasn't for her round, over fed cheeks and double chin. He could not believe the dress she was wearing, had the woman no shame? No desire to conceal her embarrassingly rotund form? She was stuffed into a simple dress of blue satin that revealed her pillowy upper arms. Perhaps it had fit once but she was clearly a growing girl because her considerable bust and belly now strained the seams of the dress, he could even make out the outline of her deep belly button.

The pureblooded of Tenuis had always been thin, finding it genetically impossible to gain weight. As a result thinness was associated with the aristocracy: visible rib cages, thigh gaps and flat stomachs were held as the beautiful ideal, the ultimate sign of good breeding. To be even a few pounds overweight was frowned upon and to be truly fat was not just considered ugly and undesirable but downright demonised. Fat was considered a sign of genetic inferiority, even moral corruption. The fat had almost been completely eradicated in the kingdom aside from the occasional tale spread amongst the peasant folk of freakish babies born with seemingly insatiable appetites.

King Edric turned from his monstrously large bride to be and stormed into his throne room and seized Lord Ivan by the throat. "So you thought you could marry me off to some prize pig?"

"Please, your Majesty." Lord Ivan choked.

Lord Hamond rushed to his fellow advisor's aid. "Sire, I beg you to be reasonable. We have no allies left to call upon, your father's fortune is almost gone. Your kingdom needs the wealth of Adipos."

The King married Princess Lyra and even, after a good deal of wine, consummated the marriage. However, once he had secured her father's wealth and support the King was cruel to his wife, hiding her from the rest of the court and rarely even visiting her himself.

"Please, Edric, I do so love to dance." Lyra said to him in one of the few occasions he visited her in the early months of their marriage. "Might I go to one of your balls?"

"My dear," King Edric scoffed. "I am the King. I would be a laughing stock at court if they were to see me twirling a whale in a gown in the ballroom."

As the months passed Lyra lost her zest for life and turned increasingly to the one pleasure that was left to her: food. She ate. She ate all day and all night. She ate until she was numb to her sadness. As her eating spiralled out of control the Queen's fat body surged ever outward and gradually her once plump and soft loveliness became a mass of flabby, sagging flesh. Her breasts lost their perkiness, her belly turned from round and bouncing to a hanging sack of fat covered in a network of angry red stretch marks. She developed new rolls not just on her stomach but her back, arms and legs.

Queen Lyra was hopelessly depressed, hidden from the rest of Tenuis the only people she saw were the fearful servants who brought her vast quantities of food morning, noon and night. After just a few months in Tenuis the Queen resembled a giant water balloon whose girth threatened to spill over her bed. On the verge of becoming an immobile prisoner in her own chamber, the only thing that saved her from this fate was the knowledge that she was soon to give birth to a baby. She and Edric had only once consummated their marriage but it was enough to conceive a child.

The Queen cared not for herself anymore but she was determined that her child should not suffer the same cruel fate as her so she contacted her father, telling him of her husbands wickedness and their loveless marriage and begging him to let her return home to Adipos.