Alexander the Great story: LOVE LETTERS by Moon71
LOVE LETTERS by Moon71
Chapter 3: Alexander hopes he’s settled matters once and for all, but he’s in for a little surprise. It seems someone else has their eye on his beloved Hephaestion…
NOTES: Happy New Year to you all!!! Thank you yet again for all the kind emails and messages. I love you all! As of tomorrow I will be back at work and probably doing overtime too, but I will try to respond to any messages and post the next bit on the weekend (?) Meanwhile, enjoy this latest instalment! Sorry if it's short - it seemed the best place to cut it!
Spring ripened into early summer; blossoms fell and fresh green leaves burst upon the branches of their favoured tree. They sprawled beneath it, enjoying its gentle, dappled shade. “From my father,” Alexander told Hephaestion, looking up from the letter he was reading, “he has returned to Pella and says he might be able to come to see me in three days…”
“I’m pleased for you, Alexander,” Hephaestion murmured, looking up briefly to give Alexander a small smile. Alexander watched the smile fade quickly to a frown as his friend returned to his own letter.
“Is it from your mother?” Alexander asked, keeping his tone light; he usually liked Hephaestion to read him his mother’s letters, which were bursting with local gossip and admonishments for Hephaestion to keep warm, ride carefully, study hard, respect his tutor and not overexert himself in the gymnasium, and always ending with warm words for Alexander.
Hephaestion shook his head. “It… Oh, it doesn’t matter…!”
“Tell me, Hephaestion!”
“It… is from Andromachus, the son of my father’s kinsman Iphicles… we last met at my cousin’s wedding to his sister…”
Alexander sat up uneasily, seeing a pink flush creep across Hephaestion’s cheeks. “What does he want?”
Hephaestion bit his lip, staring at the letter a moment longer before raising his dark eyes to Alexander’s with a strange intensity. “He… asks to become my erastes.”
“What?” Alexander snatched the letter from Hephaestion’s hand, but his eyes were too blurred with rage to take in the words upon it. Hephaestion continued to look at him in heavy silence. “Who does he think he is? Doesn’t he know that you’re…”
“That I’m what?”
Alexander stared at him, the beginning of panic tightening his chest. “That… you’re mine!”
Their gazes locked, both their faces glowing hotly with an overwhelming mixture of anger, confusion and love. “Oh Alexander…” Hephaestion whispered, that loving warmth glowing in his eyes for the first time in what seemed so long. Alexander caught his breath as he reached out and gathered him close; leaning in as if he meant to kiss him.
Heat broke out over Alexander’s skin; his heart thumped. Never before had a simple caress from his friend made him feel so uneasy. Would it end there? What if it didn’t? If he pulled away this time, would Hephaestion turn to another for what he desired? Would he consent to become the eromenos of this Andromachus after all?
Hephaestion must have felt the tension in him, for suddenly he frowned and looked away, releasing him and picking up the crumpled letter, smoothing it out against his knee and reading it again in silence. Alexander continued to watch him like a hawk. “I will speak to him,” he declared, “set him straight. Make it clear…”
“No!” Hephaestion snapped, “it has nothing to do with you!”
“Hephaestion…!”
“I said stay out of it, Alexander! There is nothing dishonourable in it,” Hephaestion added in a lower tone, “he has already asked my father’s permission to… to… court me…”
Alexander swallowed. “Does your father want you to accept him? If they’re putting any pressure on you, I’ll…”
“Alexander, I said I don’t need your help. No-one is pressuring me; they’re leaving the choice to me. No-one intended any disrespect to you,” he added with irony, “my family don’t make a habit of boasting about my friendship with the Prince.”
“Hephaestion, I didn’t mean that!”
Hephaestion did not answer and a sullen silence deepened between them. Whatever they talked about these days, they seemed to end up misunderstanding and arguing. And Alexander was sure he was not imagining a new coldness from his beloved friend.
Hephaestion had been a little shy to ask for an embrace or take a kiss when they had first become friends, uncertain of how far he should forget himself with the Prince; but his tactile nature had responded eagerly to Alexander’s need for demonstrations of affection.
Now, it seemed Alexander had to ask just for the briefest cuddle and what was worse, with that disturbing encounter still hovering at the back of his mind, he was wary of being too forward himself for fear of creating yet another misunderstanding or being accused of hypocrisy. How suddenly this gulf had opened up between them… and how vast it seemed to be growing. They could no longer agree even on the implications of a simple caress.
“You… don’t really want to accept this… Andromachus, do you?” Alexander whispered.
Again that irritatingly probing look, as if Hephaestion was scrutinising his soul.
Then his friend looked away and did not answer.
TBC