chapter 5

The dancers tumbled into the green room. Maliwa started hissing an angry rant at her, because she had stumbled. A red-coated servant entered the room and approached them.

"The king wishes to see you," he said, looking at Jess.

Maliwa changed her tune, calling out praise as she followed the flunky out of the room.

He led her, not back into the throne room, but through the corridors of the palace to a plain door. Inside was a chamber with a soft, bed-like floor, with Bryant standing on it. They approached each other slowly, and then her arms were around his meaty neck and her head was pressed to his soft chest. Her hand in his brown hair squeezed the fat roll that was forming on the back of his head.

"It's really you," he said, kissing her temple. She blinked back tears. They clung to each other for a long while. "Maybe if we kiss again, we'll go home?"

She raised her face and their lips met, but the tingling was all ordinary arousal. Jess slid one hand into his robe and caressed his moob, while the other hand traced the curve of his side. She pulled away.

"Why aren't you fatter?" she said.

"What?" Bryant gasped. Jess noticed his double chin, drooping in a solid curve from his chin to his neck. She wanted to kiss him there, lick his softness, press her lips into him.

"Elotheria is in a dire state," she said, instead. "They believe that the kingdom thrives as the king's weight grows. And now I know it's true. The changes I've seen correspond to the changes in you. But the people are still desperate. They've been without a king for so long. Crops fail, babies starve. And you can change that. All you have to do is get big."

"Isn't this big enough?" pleaded Bryant. He wasn't sure, but he thought he was getting close to 300 pounds.

Jess shook her head.

"Not nearly," she said. "If you could see how these people suffer... Let me stay. Let me help you."

"Of course," said Bryant, wrapping his arms around her. "I'm not losing you again."

"I'm not losing you either," she mumbled. "Not a single ounce of you."