Everyone in the Palace the morning after the huge feast that had been held by King Phillip would be waking up with score heads. Everyone except for Hephaistion he didn't wake up at all, he wanted to stay asleep forever. He forced his eyes to stay closed but nature soon took over and he had to wake but before he did there was the bliss of ignorance that happened between waking and still asleep.
He was stiff and score he moved to relieve the pain but his lower back and thighs screamed in protest causing him to flinch. At first he couldn't process why they ached, then it came back to him in every single detail. A drunken King Phillip had almost blackmailed him into letting him have his way with him. He forced himself on his back and pulled the bed covers over him including his face which blocked out the world yet again. Despite having bathed several times to rid him of the aftermath he still felt dirty and this morning Hephaistion didn't have the energy to get up and do it again.
He refused to stir himself when there was a loud pounding on his door. Whoever it was wasn't going to go away until they saw him. So biting his lip and using the bed for support he stood up and shuffled over to the door which he opened but not fully.
"A message from the King." said a man's voice probably one of Phillip's personal servant
a roll was pushed through the gap that Hephaistion had made Hephaistion took it though he did not read it and luckily the servant did not wait for a reply.
Once back in the safety of his room instead of opening it he held it in trembling hands, his heart was pounding so fast that he had a shortness of breath; he put it down and tried to ignore it. Curiosity got the better of him and snatching the letter a little more forcibly than intended Hephaistion ripped it open and began to read, as soon as he started he wished he hadn't, swallowing down the lump in his throat he carried on.
In the letter Phillip was congratulating him for being an obedient subject and bending to the will of the king. He then went on to say that he would like Hephaistion to visit him regularly and in time become his lover.
It was this part and the last part that made Hephaistion shake with hidden anger and disgust.
It said that being in the position of the king's lover would not only gratefully increase his position in the king's court but also his families.
Hephaistion tore the letter into shredder before letting the bit's fall to the floor. He padded back over towards the bed and flopped down on it and ignoring the pain he curled up on himself pulling the covers back over his head. The world can do without Hephaistion in it for a time, a very, very long time.