The very instant that Alexander walked into the room, Hephaistion was fully alert. He had been lounging upon the couch that the two of them had moved from the bedchamber out onto the balcony themselves a few weeks prior, but Hephaistion bounded to his feet the moment he heard Alexander's gait. It was slow and heavy and at times almost seemed to stumble. Hephaistion rushed into the chamber and was brought to an immediately halt when he beheld Alexander. In the space of an hour his beloved friend seemed to have aged ten years. He was pale and trembling, his eyes far-seeing and Hephaistion was certain that it was instinct alone which had brought Alexander back to his rooms.
"I am spawned of a demon," Alexander gasped out as Hephaistion gathered the smaller man into his arms. "She is made of evil and would have me be in her image."
Hephaistion held Alexander tight to him, pressing his lips into the bright curls. He was silent for several long minutes, knowing that Alexander would not have heard him in any case. Alexander felt emotional traumas far more keenly than he did those inflicted upon his body and Olympia' words had cut deep. At any other time Alexander would have been able to push them aside, but following so swiftly after his father's murder it was a blow Alexander could not sustain.
"I do all that I can to please her but it is never enough," Alexander moaned into his shoulder.
"Women such as she will never be pleased," Hephaistion whispered into the rumpled locks. "You could conquer the whole of the world and yet she would not be content."
Alexander snorted mirthlessly as he slipped from Hephaistion's arms, tossing himself down upon his bed. "Then I shall have to do just that. I shall conquer all of the world merely to spite her."
"Is that so, my king?"
Scowling momentarily, Alexander scrubbed his hands over his face. "I do not want to be called such. By you least of all. You are my equal in all things."
"Except in this," Hephaistion sighed, coming to stand near Alexander's knee where it jutted from the edge of the bed. "You are the son of a king. I am not."
"Yet we are one and the same. One being in the eyes of the gods," Alexander protested. The blond man lifted himself up on to his elbow and held a hand out towards Hephaistion. "You are an extension of my being and have been since we were boys."
"You would have me be your more rational self then, I take it," Hephaistion smirked as he linked his fingers through Alexander's.
Alexander laughed boisterously, tugging Hephaistion down along side his body. He sobered immediately then, his expression serious. "I would have you be by my side always. The first of my Companions, my finest general... you will ever be first in my life so long as I draw breath. I swear that to you on my very blood, tainted as it is."
Fanning his left hand across Alexander's cheek, Hephaistion leaned forward to touch their foreheads together. "There is nothing that taints you in the least, Alexander. You are destined to achieve all of your dreams. Even if it means I should have to follow you to the ends of the earth."
"You will follow me to Persia at the very least," Alexander said, leaning into Hephaistion's touch. "To Troy. We will see the tombs of Achilles and Patroclus."
"Those are high plans indeed," Hephaistion chuckled, his smile only growing at the sight of Alexander's flushed features. "I would greatly enjoy a visit to the tomb so that we might see the final resting place of your great ancestor."
"You forget yourself. For if I am descended from Achilles then so are you of Patroclus."
The two fell into an easy silence then, their hands lightly caressing face, throats and arms. After a few minutes of this Hephaistion shifted himself as close to Alexander as possible, their bodies resting flush while their legs were tangled together. It turned out to be still too far for Alexander who slid his hand down to the hem of the simple chiton Hephaistion was wearing, easing it up and off of his body.
Unable to deny his beloved anything, Hephaistion raised his arms so that Alexander could remove the thin fabric. Alexander nudged him then, rolling him onto his back. When Alexander sat back to remove his own clothes, Hephaistion reached over and latched onto his friend's right foot, drawing it onto his chest so that he could remove his sandal. Alexander was thrown off balance and ended up on his back, half tangled in his chiton.
"You are for too impatient, my love," Alexander chided, his voice muffled by the cloth that still covered his face.
Hephaistion drew Alexander's foot up, pressing a soft, open-mouthed kiss to his ankle. "Impatience has nothing to do with it, Alexander."
Raising himself onto his elbows once he had freed himself from his clothing, Alexander stared at Hephaistion who was sliding his fingertips along his calf from ankle to knee. There was a wide scar, a streak of silver when the light hit it, which curved around the back of the thick, powerful muscle. Hephaistion had seen that wound inflicted two years before on the battlements of some remote fort. A man they had assumed was dead had lifted his upper body and heaved himself at Alexander, intending to stab him. Hephaistion had seen the movement and thrown himself at the half-dead soldier and turned what could have been a very serious wound into a long, but very shallow gash that curled around the back of Alexander's calf.
"It is because of you that I do not walk with a limp," Alexander murmured as he rolled onto his side and crawled his upper body towards Hephaistion's. "Or that I did not lose the limb entirely."
"You give me too much credit."
"And you do not give yourself enough."
Releasing Alexander's leg, Hephaistion turned onto his side to face the other man. The man who was now his king. Hephaistion had always known that Alexander would one day become king. He had never expected it to happen so soon, though. Hephaistion had always thought that he would have more time at Alexander's side, but from the moment he had lifted Alexander's arm and placed Phillip's crown upon his head their time was limited. He had stolen Alexander away from himself and they would never again be the two boys who had wrestled in the dirt without any thought of rank or station. Very soon Alexander was likely to take a wife in order to beget an heir and Hephaistion would lose him completely. He would then be a trusted general and nothing more.
"I am glad that it was you who placed the crown upon my head," Alexander whispered, his fingertips ghosting over Hephaistion's cheek. "You are the only one who has never held me in esteem because of my rank." Alexander's lips curved into a smile then. "You were the only one not afraid to shove my face into the sand when we were boys."
"You were always too pretty."
Hephaistion had said the words with such frankness that Alexander let out a bark of laughter before rolling himself atop of the long-haired youth. The blonde man cocked his head to the side, staring down intently at Hephaistion. Many times in the past Hephaistion had watched as Alexander stared out at the horizon in much the same way, searching for something that the rest of the world could not see.
In that moment Hephaistion did not know what Alexander expected to see in his face as he stared up at his beloved through half-lidded eyes. Lifting his right hand to cup the new monarch's cheek, he returned Alexander's steady gaze. Hephaistion did not feel the least bit uneasy under that piercing gaze, his own eyes never wavering. It would be Alexander himself a few years later who would smear kohl found in Darius' bedchamber around Hephaistion's eyes, declaring that he wanted all the world to marvel at the beauty of his eyes.
On that afternoon in Pella, however, the world did not exist beyond them.