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A L E X A N D E R
A World Untamed
"Give me a lever long enough and a fulcrum on which to place it, and I shall move the world."
- Archimedes
Just breathe. Just breathe. Just breathe.
Somewhere between this moment and Alexander's insistent lips, I had forgotten how to breathe. It was as if my lungs were tasting air for the first time, awakened into a world newly formed. Would this be the result of every transgression? How many times can one's senses reincarnate before they are lost altogether? A barrage of emotions coursed through me-lust, empowerment, uncertainty, curiosity, fear...but underlying them all was an untamed, heated magnetism that transformed my blood into liquid fire. It pumped through my tingling veins and reaching my head, tilted the world onto an uneasy axis. Unable to bear the sudden dizziness, I stooped over and emptied the contents of my stomach onto the painted tiles beneath me.
Braised grouper, goat cheese, and exotic olives tasted very different coming up then going down. I grimaced and spit, wiping my mouth on the teal embroidering of my white chiton. Just breathe. I had been walking aimlessly through the palace annex, desperately trying to regain control of my careening sensibilities. The encounter with Alexander had been so fast and intense that I had never had time to process what happened. I was still mired in doubt, convinced in some small way that I had imagined the entire thing. Only the residual ache in my groin and the swollen tenderness of my lips pulled the moment back into reality. Before we could even stop to talk about what had occurred, the prince was summoned back to the party to help toast the main course. He had asked me to go with him, but I needed air...needed to breathe in the cool stillness of the night. I shook my head vigorously, attempting to dispel the chaos of Eris from my thoughts. As I braced myself to stand, a kylix suddenly appeared at my side.
"Too much wine?" The voice was a familiar whisper, however I was too unsteady and confused to answer or even confirm its origin. I could only nod slowly as I took the kylix and tipped the beverage into my mouth. I felt a welcome sense of relief as I discovered it was water. It trickled down my bottom lip and dripped off of my chin as I forced as much of it into my mouth as I could manage. Coughing yet feeling reinvigorated, I set the kylix down and looked up into jade eyes glittering with barely concealed amusement.
"Queen Olympias? What are you doing here?"
I felt vaguely embarrassed as I realized what I must look like, especially given her striking appearance. She was like a goddess come to life. Her auburn hair was strung through with gleaming pearls and pinned up, falling in shining waves down her back. She wore a teal peplos with golden embroidering along the hemline, accented by a golden snake armlet and two pearl earrings. I also noticed in the soft light of the courtyard torches that her face and arms shimmered with ground crystals as if the stars themselves had kissed her skin.
As nonchalantly as possible, I wiped at the smudge of vomit on the shoulder of my chiton as Olympias got up and walked to the edge of a nearby balcony. I grabbed the kylix and stood, watching her and wondering how she had found me. The sounds of the party echoed down the pillared corridors.
"I came here to find a moment of peace. The king has found his wine." Her soft, rasping voice dropped to barely a whisper. It was a struggle in and of itself to ignore King Philip's indiscretions; one could hardly describe him as discreet, and when the wine flowed, it would take a full-scale war to distract him from an orgy. I felt sympathy wash over my features for this young woman so dedicated to her son despite her own personal battles.
I opted for humor to lighten the mood. "With the grace of the gods, he'll find his way to the underside of a table to sleep."
Olympias laughed lightly. "We can only hope."
I walked over to the balcony and stood next to her. The festivities continued below, the lights of the city glimmering as citizens of the city sang and danced through the streets. The world beyond was both dark and luminous, softly lit as the goddess Selene bathed the waters of the outer sea with moonlight.
"What do you see out there, Hephaestion?" Olympias' harmless query was like a lance, piercing through my insides. That question was forever seared into my memory, marking the moment that my closest friend suddenly became something more. Clearing my throat, I managed to find my voice.
"A world untamed."
"Exactly! A world shrouded in a darkness that even the great Selene herself cannot lift." She paused for a moment. "But there is one who might yet bring light into that world..."
I glanced at Olympias as a tingling sensation fluttered through my stomach. Several emotions flared up at once as the name fell from my lips. "Alexander."
She turned her gaze upon me, her eyes alight with a fervency I had never seen in her. "He needs you, Hephaestion. He cannot do it alone, and your loyalty to one another will keep you both strong. It is rare to find love in our time, and I believe...no, I know that he has found it with you. Despite the political necessities that will define him in time, he still needs you by his side."
My voice was the smallest whisper in response. "I don't know what to do."
Olympias smiled, a mixture of wisdom and sympathy outlining her features. "Love him back, Hephaestion. The rest will unfold as only it can in the wake of such things. There is no greater act of devotion, and with that, you both will accomplish wonders this world has never seen."
I stared at her, a powerful energy borne of awe and fear twisting through my chest. I felt her words rather than heard them, aware on some primal level that this was more than idle advice. Before I could respond, a voice pierced the silence from the shadowed recesses of the palace corridors.
"Hephaestion? Where are you?"
I turned to look behind me, struck by the undercurrent of panic in that voice...a voice I could never mistake for another. My breath hitched as time halted yet again-he had come back.
Prince Alexander walked out onto the balcony, his head turned away from me. There was now so much more to the sculptured nobility of his profile, a familiarity in the strong line of his jaw and the way it tensed slightly when he was unsure of himself or worried. I could see that same concern etched into his bronzed face now, but as his eyes finally found me, it all seemed to melt from his features. There was visible relief and then an almost imperceptible hesitation...but as he came closer, something else flashed in his blue-brown gaze. It was something tinged with need, torrid and brazenly ignorant of who might see.
I opened my mouth to speak but his lips crashed into my own before I could utter a word. The soft, wine-glazed fullness of them consumed all protest as his tongue caressed my own, the heady taste of him filling my mouth. It took more strength than I thought myself capable of to pull away from him, stumbling back and turning to see if Queen Olympias was still behind me.
She had vanished, the ornate beauty of her personal kylix the only thing that was left behind. I looked back at Alexander, noting his confusion but unable to vocalize the emotions that threatened to suffocate me. He glanced at the cup of water, and then returned his gaze to me.
"My mother was here?" The faintest trace of amused curiosity tinged his voice.
I cleared my throat. "Yes."
He squinted. "I was looking for you. I hated leaving but my father was too drunk to give a proper dinner toast. It was like listening to a snoring mule but much louder."
I couldn't help but laugh. He stepped forward, his expression more serious as his toned arms encircled my lower back.
"Help me forget?" His deep, resonant plea was laced with desire, which rushed through my veins like a cool tonic. I knew then, in that moment, that he had given me a new power over him. He had relinquished something, and whatever it was pulsated in the soft heat of his body as he held me. I reached up, tentatively letting my fingers brush against his jaw line. His eyelids fluttered and his breath quickened-what a strange feeling it was to know that I could affect someone with the lightest touch. Curiosity guided my hand along the contours of his face, my thumb brushing against his lips. I couldn't wait any longer as I leaned forward and pressed my lips against his own, softly pushing my tongue into his grape-sweetened mouth.
Was this what it would be like to kiss Zeus himself? Electric energy tingled through my lips and then exploded in a shivering wave of sensation through my whole body as I turned my head to deepen our contact. A rumbling moan started in the back of my throat, unbidden and completely out of my control. Alexander emitted a deep, animalistic growl in response, pulling me into the shadows and shoving me up against one of the palace pillars. His fingers tangled in my hair before trailing down my neck and back, pulling me into him as he grinded his thickening cock against my own. My stomach tightened with anticipation as the spiced notes of his sweat enclosed my senses, trapping me somewhere between bliss and my own uncertainty. I reached down and found the pulsating length of him, using his chiton as a soft sheath as I stroked the fabric up and down over it. Alexander broke our kiss as he leaned his head back and groaned loudly, small pants escaping his open mouth each time my hand passed over the head of his cock.
"Uggghhh that feels so good, Hephaestion. Keep...keep doing that..." He placed his hands against the wall behind me and leaned his forehead against mine, his brow pinched and his lips curled in an expression of all-consuming pleasure. This new power surged through me, threatening to overtake reason and destroy restraint. I wanted to give Alexander the greatest happiness, but I also had to know that whatever this was would strengthen him. A world untamed required more than just a military general to quell its warring factions-it needed a man capable of building the foundation of a new era...not just a man, but a mover of men. The potential of such a person could not be dimmed by a weakness for pleasure-that would make Alexander too much like his father, influential and brilliant but too vulnerable to the withering effect of excess. I could see the prince succeeding King Philip in ways beyond even my own imagining. He had the intelligence and the ambition, but most importantly, he had the vision.
I knew now that I needed him...we all did. Our culture was defined by men who chained themselves to tradition, too frightened to reach for the glory they thought only belonged to the gods. We had to fight the temptation to tread the well-beaten path, for in the end, it would only lead us into the aimless darkness of stagnancy. Alexander's fervency for the vision beyond the darkness would eventually need an outlet. I saw it there in his twisted features, heard it as pleasure caught in the back of his throat, knew what I could give him that would eclipse the brevity of this moment and lead us into the light...and just as his eyes widened and he reached the brink of that unraveling moment, I let go.