Later that night, Roxana danced for Alexander during the wedding festivities.

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"Look at you," Cleitus smirked, confronting Hephaestion. "You look miserable. What, are you upset because Alexander has taken a wife other than you?"

Puckering his lips mockingly, he crowded Hephaestion.

Hephaestion bristled instantly, pushing him away with a warning.

Cleitus responded with a blow that cut into Hephaestion's lip.

***

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Hephaestion entered Alexander's chamber that night, his lip bloody and his eyes brimming with tears.

Alexander was immediately alarmed at the sight of him, and resolved to kill whoever did this damage to Hephaestion's lips.

But before he could speak, Hephaestion presented Alexander with a ring.

"I-I found it in Egypt... The man who sold it to me said it came from a time when man worshiped sun, and stars," he explained. He gazed affectionately at his king.

"I'll always think of you as the sun, Alexander. And I pray your dream will shine on all men."

Taking Alexander's hand, he slowly slid the ring on his finger, and embraced him.

"I wish you a son," Hephaestion whispered, suppressing a sob. "You're a great man."

Alexander crushed him to his body, burying his face in Hephaestion's fur cloak. When he felt an unmistakable hardness against his thigh, Alexander's breathing grew shallow.

Before Hephaestion could pull back, Alexander's mouth crushed his.

Their tongues duelled, hands fisting each other's hair.

Hephaestion drew back at long last.

"I love you," Alexander whispered.

"And I love you," Hephaestion breathed, panting softly. "Many will love you, Alexander, but none so pure and deep as-"

The entry of Roxana turned their heads.

She stared accusingly at the men she had walked in on. Hephaestion, eyes downcast with guilt, retreated awkwardly from the king's room.

Roxana swung on her new husband, her eyes falling to the new ring on his hand. Not a full day after their wedding, she had caught him with another - a man.

"You..." Her lip curled, sneering, "love him?"

Alexander would not deny it.

"He is Hephaestion..." He tried to console her. "There are many different ways to love..."

But it was no consolation. She was a war bride - he loved her for the power and security and offspring that she and other women like her could bring him. Bagoas was a beautiful man and bed companion - he loved him with lust. But Hephaestion, a childhood friend, trusted general and the sole occupant of Alexander's heart, was loved unlike any other. Alexander loved him with all the types of love. Agape - unconditional love, for he would die for Hephaestion, and Hephaestion for him. Eros - romanic love, for no other loved him - and he loved no other - with the same burning, ardent craze of lust. Philia - affectionate love, for none was dearer to him than his sweet Hephaestion. Philautia - self-love, for he was as much Alexander as Alexander himself. Storge - familiar love, for they had known each other since childhood. Pragma - enduring love, for the years they spent in each other's company was a testament to their devotion. Ludus - playful love, for he couldn't truly relax and be himself around any other. Mania - obsessive love, for if anything were ever to happen to Hephaestion, it would kill Alexander.

Roxana tried to poison Bagoas and Hephaestion in turn. Alexander beat her himself for it, though he had always been gentle with her until that point.

***

When a plot against his life was discovered, Alexander faced a maelstrom of emotion, among them bewilderment, hurt and anger. One accused, Philotas, had been with him since his childhood, a fellow pupil of Aristotle's and a commander in Alexander's army. Hephaestion, however, felt only rage.

"He needs to be tortured and interrogated," Hephaestion seethed to Alexander. "Craterus agrees with me. For once."

Alexander was hesitant, but Hephaestion was adamanent.

"Think, if it had been me," he urged Alexander. "Would you not want the conspirator killed? If there are others... If next time they succeed... How could you ever sleep at night?"

Along with Coenus, Hephaestion was to carry out the customary torture, in order to extract confessions. In order to prevent Philotas' father, Parmenion, from avenging his son, he too was executed.

Alexander made Hephaestion and Cleitus joint commanders of the cavalry in Philotas' place. In doing so, Alexander satisfied the two opposing factions within his army: Cleitus' side which despised the Persian customs and Hephaestion's which approved of the king's cultural integration policy.

***

The next spring, Alexander was ready to conquer India.

The hostility between Alexander's men, especially between Hephaestion and Craterus, continued to grow and fester. On one occasion, along the route to India, they drew their swords and came to blows. Alexander, seeing Craterus' sword aimed at Hephaestion, was furious. He split the men up, sternly chastising them both.

For the first time, the army came across a strange creature that greatly resembled man.

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"They're animals," Hephaestion explained. "Monkeys."

"Monkey... look at his hands!" Alexander's delight was boyish.

"So much like ours," Hephaestion marvelled.

"Hello, little man," Alexander cooed to the creature. Turning to Hephaestion, he asked: "Do they speak?"

"No," came Hephaestion's reply. "But they do sing, and make noises from the roofs of forests."

Hephaestion had always been the brighter of the two.

Alexander divided his forces, with Hephaestion and Perdiccas leading one contingent through the Khyber pass and Alexander himself leading the other into the Swat Valley. Hephaestion's orders were to "take over either by force or agreement all places on their march and upon reaching the Indus to make suitable preparations for crossing."

The territory was politically and geographically unfamiliar, but Alexander knew that Hephaestion was a brilliant man who could easily adapt to the situation. Alexander could rely on him not only to accomplish whatever tasks he gave, but also to intuit what was needed and left unsaid. Hephaestion conquered Peuceolatis and the rest of the land leading to the Indus. Upon reaching the Indus, he ordered the construction of boats for the crossing. He and Perdiccas were helped by the compliant Omphis, also called Ambhi, who ruled the land from the Indus to the Hydaspes. Thanks to Hephaestion's diplomatic genius, he also provided Alexander's troops with the necessary provisions, and received them hospitably into his capital.

Alexander conquered the Aspasioi, the Guraeans, and the Assakenoi. In his fight against the first, he was wounded in the shoulder, and in the second battle he was wounded in the ankle.

Hephaestion joined Alexander in the battle at the Hydaspes River, partaking in the cavalry charge.

There they faced King Porus, who reigned from the Hydaspes to the Acesines. Although they were victorious, Bucephalus was wounded in the battle. Alexander, too, was thrown and injured.

In that moment, the world turned upside down for Hephaestion.

Incensed by what he thought was surely the death of Alexander, Hephaestion exploded.

With a roar, he charged against Alexander's attacker, seeing red.

Hephaestion, too, was injured by a spear through his leg. Hephaestion saw the king's eyes open, and determination to live filled him anew. He gritted his teeth, bearing the pain.

Although both men survived, Bucephalus died from his wounds and Alexander buried him, naming the town Bucephala. The city across the river he named Nicaea, meaning victory.

Alexander noticed Hephaestion limping.

"Hephaestion, your thigh."

"Oh no," Hephaestion quipped, smiling through his pain. "Not my beautiful thighs."

After bandaging Hephaestion's wound, Alexander placed tender kisses around the bandaged area. Hephaestion, as was his wont, sucked the king's wounds clear, fearing the arrowheads of foreigners could be poisoned with anything.

King Porus had displayed remarkable bravery during the battle, and Alexander made him a satrap and extended his territory to the Hyphasis river.

The armies east of the river were vast and Alexander's men were exhausted. Having been informed that the kings of the Ganderites and Praesii awaited them with eighty thousand horsemen, two hundred thousand footmen, eight thousand chariots, and six thousand war elephants, they mutinied at the Hyphasis and would march no further.

Crateros voiced their concerns.

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"In the rain and the sun we've fought for you. Some of us fifty battles we've been in. We've killed many a barbarian. And now when I look around, how many of their faces do I see?"

"You know there's no part of me without a scar or a bone broken," Alexander returned. "I've shared every hardship with all of you!"

After battle, Alexander always made rounds of the sick and wounded, on occasion pulling arrowheads from men's bodies himself. He knew what it took to make men follow a leader, and it was not force. When the troops were snowed on, he was snowed on too. When they were starved or parched, it comforted them to know that he was too. He was not a cold and distant general but a friend who fought by their side, who would remember them by name and recount their bravery in service when they died.

"Aye, you have, my king. And we love you for it. But, by Zeus, too many have died. We're just humble men. We seek no disturbance with the gods. All we wish for is to see our children."

Alexander's heart sank as he realized that only Hephaestion was on his side, only Hephaestion understood. He addressed the troops with passion.

"But you dream, Crateros... Your simplicity long ended, when you took Persian mistresses and children, and you thickened your holdings with plunder and jewels... Because you have fallen in love with all the things in life that destroy men... do you not see... and you, as well as I, know, that as the year decline and the memories stale and all your great victories fade it will always be remembered, you left your king in Asia."

Hephaestion had to keep the men off of Alexander in the uproar that followed.

***

Alexander's army had spent six years fighting in the Far East, and Alexander had nearly been killed in the last battle. Although Alexander was bent on continuing, Hephaestion advised him privately that it was not possible.

Reluctantly, Alexander announced that they would begin the journey home to Babylon.

Once again, Hephaestion was entrusted with half of the army, including the elite troops and two hundred elephants, while Alexander took charge of the rest. They now headed south-west along the Hydaspes. Alexander and a select group of men - with Hephaestion the first among these honorary trierarchs - travelled in boats on the river.

When the territory became hostile, Alexander regrouped his forces, Hephaestion again controlling his own group.

On entering hostile territory, Alexander split his forces into three. Hephaestion's section marched ahead, charged with intercepting any oncoming native troops. When Alexander was injured in a skirmish with a hostile tribe, Hephaestion took over his section as well. They marched along the Indus to the sea.

Craterus was sent to Carmania with several of the troops, and Nearchus was placed in charge of exploring the Persian gulf with his fleet.

Alexander and Hephaestion's route was more difficult. Hephaestion was to stay and take charge of Pattala, where he organized the construction of a fortress and a harbour for his fleet.

Alexander advanced to Persia.

He and Hephaestion were reunited at Rhambacia, where Hephaestion established another city. He then embarked with Alexander on the long and difficult journey across the Gedrosian dessert.

Many men perished from the harsh conditions. Bagoas demonstrated remarkable courage and fortitude during the crossing, helping to care for the men and earning their admiration in return.