As Hephaestion and Claudita lay in the afterglow of their lovemaking, Claudita could still feel the heat from their bodies – the heat from between her legs. Oh how she loved this man. It should only ever have been him but she was either too naïve or too confused to have ever admitted it before now. As she lay stroking his chest and listening to the stillness and gentle sounds of his breathing she leant up to pull him even tighter into her body. Hephaestion obliged, and pulled his strong arms around her more closely. He wanted to be with her like this always – he wanted her to belong to him. He wanted them to belong to each other; even though deep in his heart he knew that for many years he had already belonged to her. He placed a tender kiss to her forehead, and tried desperately to void his mind from drifting back to the present reality that Claudita was not his wife, but belonged to Cleitus. How he loathed Cleitus! He was a drunken imbecile of a man who flouted and flaunted himself amongst the soldiers at any party that he attended. Whilst Hephaestion did not know if Cleitus truly wanted the child that Claudita had been carrying, of one thing he was certain – Cleitus' love for Claudita.

"You mean everything to me, Phai. I want this with you, I want to be with you always," Claudita whispered gently, breaking the soldier out of his fixated trance on her husband. He sighed as he held her closer, moving his body to easily rest atop hers on the floor of the hut. Hephaestion stared deeply into the eyes of his beloved before he responded.

"You have always been with me Claudita. From the first moment we kissed in the Orange Grove when we were little – my heart has always been yours. I am in love with you – with every breath that I draw and every thought that I have – you are always in my heart," he leant down to place a warm open-mouthed kiss to her mouth and gently parted her lips with his tongue. Claudita instinctively brought her hands up to wrap in his long dirty hair – unclean from the grit and grime of a warrior's life, and smelling faintly of sweat mixed with her jasmine scent. These kisses with him were more than anything she had felt with Cleitus. This was what being in love was supposed to feel like. Being utterly enveloped and consumed by love, desire and need. Hephaestion was always the man for her, and from today he always would me.

"I want you to be my husband, Hephaestion. I want to have your child," she whispered against his parted lips. She felt him intake a sharp breath at her wish, and could feel his manhood begin to harden again against her stomach at her words.

"But Cleitus, Clau we need to be realistic – he is your husband, by law,"

"And you are my husband by heart. Of the two – I know which one I choose to accept. We can be together, Phai. I will make sure of it. The day that you found me on the balcony overlooking Babylon – the day I lost my child… Do you remember how you spoke to me, how you held me? It only made me shed more tears – because I was imagining how it would feel to have a child with you. To have a strong child that looked exactly like you – a mirror image of his handsome father. You are a man of such respect and virtue. You are to be the father of my children – no one else Phai. I know now that however great the loss of my child was, it is nothing compared to the pain I felt that day recognising that it was not yours."

As he heard her words Hephaestion leant down and brushed his lips against hers, placing his arms underneath her to pull her atop his lap. Without hesitation, Claudita straddled his lap as he gently pushed himself into her and began to make love to her again. He wanted so much to be the father of any children that she bore, and he was determined to give in to her every wish.

A few weeks later as Claudita lay in bed in her and Cleitus' chambers she turned towards the balcony and its open doors. She could hear the bustling of the Babylonian streets below and the chatter of people in the markets. She gently pulled herself out of her bed and pulled on her toga and sandals, placing her long hair into a twist and tying it with a small piece of ribbon at the base. She was heading out to meet Hephaestion at the small hut where they had first made love. She felt giddy at the thoughts of what was to come, and what he would do to her. Cleitus was away on campaign and was not expected home for a few more weeks. Although she was saddened to see him go, she was deeply happy that she would be able to spend more time with Hephaestion and hopefully begin to develop their relationship even further.

On her way to the hut she heard someone call her name. It was Alexander the Great himself.

"Alexander. What a pleasant surprise it is to see you, my friend," Claudita said as she extended her arms out to embrace her friend. Alexander picked her up and spun her, which cause quite a stir from many of the locals in the marketplace.

"Beautiful Claudita, how are you my queen?" he asked her, as he linked his arm within hers to take a stroll. Claudita was a little edgy as she politely upheld the conversation for a few minutes, before one of Alexander's guards interrupted the two of them.

"Claudita, please join me for dinner tonight. It would be my absolute pleasure for you to – and I insist that you come. Your husband is away so I know that you have nothing else to do," he told her, kissing her quickly before turning with his guard. Before he completely parted from her he leant in her ear and whispered.

"Hephaestion's waiting for you."