"Ouch!"
"Sorry!"
"Are you sure this is all you're going to wear?"
"Of course it's all I'm going to wear. I want people to see how big I am!"
"Oh I don't think clothing could hide that, Master..."
"Hehehe...Thanks. No, just the sash, the breeches, the vest and the belly-chain. And the shoes".

"And your coronet, master?"

"Do I HAVE to?"

"I think the Queen insisted, your Royal Highness".

"Oh fine!"

Darius put on his coronet, looking at how the gold and pearls sparkled in the candlelight.

"I think it makes me look fruity", the prince grumbled.

"I think it makes you look handsome!" said Bretton. He wobbled his master's belly playfully, making the heavy gold chain chink and clink.

"Besides", said Xavian. "You want to look good for the Lady Elizabeth, don't you?"

"Who?"

"Lady Elizabeth Wurthers! She's coming with her parents! The Duke and Duchess of...what was it?"

"Tofton, Xavian. The Duke and Duchess of Tofton", Bretton said.

"How do YOU know who's coming?" Darius asked.

"Um...our father IS your father's personal manservant, my lord", said Bretton. "Whatever the king tells him, does...sometimes...trickle down the family tree..."

"Well I wish it would trickle down MY family tree", Darius grumbled.

Xavian handed Darius his walking stick. The massively obese young prince waddled in front of the mirror to check his form. He was wearing his red and gold coronet on top of his neatly brushed blond hair, his blue silk sash, his belly-chain, his white vest and white cloak and white and gold shoes and his walking-stick in his right hand. The chain and the sash were pulled snugly across and around his prodigious belly which bulged out and wobbled, his sagging boy-breasts resting comfortably on top of his tender stomach and soft rolls of royal rotundity. His three chins sagged onto his chest which wobbled when he looked himself up and down. He smiled.

He waddled out of his bedroom, his 1,700 pounds jiggling and heaving up and down as he plodded along. Hephaestus might not have been a very nice person, but he DID cause Darius to double his weight! Darius chuckled and rubbed his belly. Yes it was certainly an interesting experience.

The bedroom doors swung open.

"Darius! Are you ready...Oh!"

Tristan waddled in, dressed in handsome yellow, white and gold robes. A tunic, a pair of breeches and a handsome gold chain and cloak with his own coronet on top.

"Huh!" said Darius, looking at his younger brother. "You look like a golden egg!"

"I want to stand out! Next to someone as fat as you, I'm going to melt into the background!"

Darius laughed!

"You'll stand out plenty! You'll be the fattest lighthouse in the entire country with all that gold thread!"

Bretton and Xavian laughed. Ethan waddled in after his master.

"What do you think, Prince Darius?"

"I think it's too much gold", Darius said. "But Tristan said he wanted to stand out...That'll certainly do that!"

Richard waddled in. He stared at Darius. They used to be the same size...almost. Now Darius was more than twice Richard's weight and bulk! He looked almost offended at the sight of his larger, fatter, heavier brother!

"Mother's expecting us", he said shortly. "Come on Darius".

"Sooomeone's jealous..." Tristan said in a singsong voice.

"Oh shut up!" Richard grumbled. "You would be too!"

"There's no way I'm ever going to be as big as Darius! I'm not jealous!" said Tristan. "I'm not the one who's always fighting with him to try and be bigger!"

The three princes headed into the corridor, along with the Mountain princes, all dressed in their shiniest dress-armour with their decorative weaponry strapped to their sides. Baby Taurus didn't like the strange metal clothing that papa and Brother Javelin and Cousin Titan and Cousin Vulcan were wearing! They weren't soft and snuggly! They were hard and clanky and they scared him because they were all shiny and reflective! He stuck close to mother's soft, flowing gown of silk.

The princes joined their parents in the foyer, greeting guests. One by one, they came. Lords, ladies, gentlemen, earls, barons, counts, dukes, marquesses and marchionesses, countesses, baronets, knights and wealthy commoners who, Draius was sure, had come to curry favour with the king, his father.

"His Grace, the Duke of Tofton, Her Grace, the Duchess of Tofton and Lady Elizabeth Mandley!" Jamie announced.

Darius shivered.

He'd met Lady Elizabeth only a few times before. Two or three, he reckoned. She was a wonderful girl of his own age from a wealthy and prominent family. She was delightfully plump and cuddly. Nowhere near Darius's size of course, but splendidly sunny, cheerful, funny and curvaceous. She had a round, double-chinned, smiling face and long strands of blond hair done up in curls that hung in bunches around her. Her cheeks were soft and rosy and her hands had the soft, silky touch of a true lady. One who lived a life of leisure and serenity...as only a proper noblewoman's daughter should!

Darius watched her curtsy to the king and queen. Darius couldn't help but notice that she was beginning to develop delightfully full...ahem...yes well...more about that later.

He cleared his throat as the Lady Elizabeth approached the princes. She was a wonderful girl. She was so funny and charming and sweet and she had that pretty, cherubic face...

She curtsied to the Mountain princes who acted very solemn and respectable. It seemed quite out of character. Perhaps not for Titan who was always a bit more mature, but for Vulcan and Javelin it seemed very strange.

Tristan smiled and shook her hand and Richard greeted her warmly. She appeared to be working her way up to the grand prize.

Elizabeth gasped when she saw the Crown Prince. He was so much fatter since the last time she saw him! So much heavier, heftier, so much more of a proper-sized boy. Elizabeth preferred boys who were more fun to hug and squeeze. And of course, bigger boys meant bigger bank-accounts. Only the truly wealthy could afford to have such fantastically obese sons. Only they could afford the food and the servants that would bring about such delightful size. And Elizabeth did think a lot of Prince Darius. He was rich, influential, powerful, handsome, chubby, cute, cuddly, enormously fat and wonderfully round. He was perhaps a bit rough and grumpy sometimes, but he wasn't a mean boy. He had a heart and a conscience and he wouldn't want her to be upset by anything he said.

Elizabeth found herself standing in front of him. She curtsied and grasped his right hand in both of hers. She knelt and kissed his signet-ring.

"Good evening, your Royal Highness", she said. She rose and admired his new girth. "His Royal Highness is looking so much fatter and rounder since I saw him last".

Darius blushed.

"Good evening, my lady", he said, stiffly. "Welcome to my father's court. I hope this evening finds you hungry. We're assured a handsome spread for dinner".

She smiled. She liked a boy with a good appetite! She nodded. "Yes sir!"