Out of breath, Alexander lay for a moment with his hot cheek against Hephaestion's sweating shoulder-blade.

"Good boy," he said, patting the side of Hephaestion's buttock before dismounting and rolling across the bed onto his back.

Hephaestion, breathless, couldn't quite believe his ears. He levered himself up unto his elbows and looked at Alexander.

"Seriously? 'Good boy'?"

Alexander, his forearm across his eyes, flashed a look towards him from one eye under his arm. "I was riding Bucephalus."

"Bucephalus," Hephaestion said. It wasn't the reply he had expected. Alexander had covered both eyes with his forearm, his chest still rising and falling deeply.

Feeling rather raw, Hephaestion turned his hips and removed the cloth from underneath himself. He wiped his stomach, folded the cloth, reached and wiped Alexander too. He folded the cloth again and laid it on the floor beside the bed.

"Thank you," Alexander said from under his arm.

Propped on his elbow, Hephaestion lay on his side and regarded Alexander. He was eighteen, compact and muscular, yet delicate: a prince, but still a boy. And Hephaestion was no older.

"Is anything wrong?" he asked.

"No."

"You can always tell me. What is it?"

"Nothing!" Alexander flung himself off the bed and stood irresolute with his back to Hephaestion.

"Nothing didn't give me a sore backside."

Alexander looked over his shoulder at Hephaestion, his eyes wide. "I'm sorry." He returned to the bed, biting his bottom lip. He sat on his heels beside Hephaestion, his shoulders hunched. "Did I hurt you very much?"

"I'll live." Hephaestion looked up at him, waiting, his eyes clear of reproach.

Alexander closed his eyes briefly. "I wanted to run free."

Hephaestion hesitated. Alexander had never hurt him before. "From me?"

"No, no. Never." Yet Hephaestion knew there was half a yes there.

"I have to get married," Alexander said, in response to the question in Hephaestion's eyes. He looked distressed.

"What? Who to?" Hephaestion sat up quickly, ignoring the twinges.

Alexander's distress deepened. "The satrap of Caria's daughter."

"A Persian? Is Philip mad?"

"My father is negotiating with the satrap to marry his daughter to my brother Arrhidaeus. But I am going to offer myself instead."

"What? Why?" Hephaestion frowned in puzzlement. "Philip won't agree to that. You're not old enough to marry. Arrihidaeus is twenty one. You're not yet nineteen!"

"My father won't know. I shall send the actor Thessalus to Pixodarus to negotiate for me to marry his daughter instead of Arrhidaeus. I've discussed it with Mother, and Ptolemy and Erigyius and Harpalus, and they agree I need to take action."

Hephaestion's voice changed. "Why didn't you tell me?"

"Because I knew you'd say no."

"Damned right I'd say no! It's a stupid idea! What are you going to gain from it?"

"No, it isn't stupid! Philip himself is about to marry Attalus's niece; he's married my sister Cynna to my cousin Amyntas; he is talking about betrothing my sister Cleopatra to my mother's brother when she's older. He is making plans for everyone, and he is leaving me out! I am his heir, but he is getting more heirs, and they will threaten my position. I have to take action."

"No, you don't! You can't go behind Philip's back like this, Alexander. It's insane! What are you going to do - 'Greetings, father. Let me introduce you to my wife, my Persian wife'? He will kill you! Talk to him first!"

"He is out-manoeuvring me! He is isolating me, and I need allies. Hephaestion, I would have an army out there!"

"No, you wouldn't! Caria's nothing! This is not a good idea, Alexander!"

"Stop shouting at me. Someone will hear. Philip will find out."

Hephaestion made a face of exasperation at Alexander's dignity.

"PIxodarus has no son. Caria is wealthy and I will be able to buy an army. I will have a base in Persia."

"And fight Philip? You're mad, Alexander. Philip is going to invade Asia and you would oppose him with an army?"

"No, no. I will come out to meet him at the head of an army. I will have already won a province for him."

Exasperated, Hephaestion got quickly off the bed and paced. "No you won't! You think Pixodarus is going to let you do that? You have to stop this, Alexander. It can only end badly. You can't go against Philip like this!"

"He is planning a royal bride for Arrhidaeus! Why would he do that unless he wanted to make a prince of him, fit to be his heir?"

"Arrhidaeus can never rule, here or in Caria, he isn't fit, you know that! He is a fool!"

"But I have to let Philip know that he cannot overlook me! I have to prove I am his most likely heir, but he is leaving me out of his plans. He will get more sons, grandsons and heirs. I will be left with nothing!"

They stood and stared at each other across the room. "So this is about Philip not paying you enough attention?" Hephaestion asked incredulously. "Why don't you talk to him about it? You don't know what plans he has! He could be planning another royal bride for you."

Alexander's face closed. "If all you are going to do is criticise me, you had better leave."

Hephaestion grabbed his clothes and was about to fling out of the room, outraged, angry and offended.

"Don't say anything to anyone. Don't tell Philip." Alexander said in a small voice.

"You have to ask? You know I won't betray you!"

"I will have to give you up if I marry."

Hephaestion's eyes dropped. "So be it. Good night." He left the room.

Inevitably, Philip found out. Aristocritus, the Greek whom Pixodarus had sent to Philip with the marriage offer, was sent back to Halicarnassus with a flea in his ear. The Corinthians were asked to send Thessalos back to Pella in chains when his ship landed, and Alexander was confined to his quarters.

Philip slept on his anger, spoke to Parmenion and Antipater, and took Parmenion's son, Philotas, a friend of Alexander's with him to Alexander's room as witness and, at Parmenion's suggestion, to reason with Alexander.

Hephaestion was with Alexander and several other friends when Philip arrived, sitting quietly. Alexander and the others had long since talked themselves out and Alexander, standing anxiously by the window, caught Hephaestion's eye. They had been careful and polite with each other, and had avoided talking about the affair. Hephaestion had found himself not speaking without being spoken to first.

Philip walked into the room with all the force of a thunderstorm, Philotas trailing after him like a raincloud. Philotas stationed himself, wide -legged, inside the door as Philip stood in the centre of the room.

"Out," he motioned to Alexander's friends. "You. Stay," he said to Hephaestion. "Doubtless you were in this up to your eyeballs."

"No, he wasn't," Alexander said, stepping forward tensely. "I kept him out of it."

Philip turned deliberately to look at Alexander. "He can stay as your witness. I've brought Philotas as mine."

Father and son looked at each other for a moment until Philip turned and sat with a flourish, favouring his bad knee. He waved his hand at a chair and said to Alexander, "Sit. I don't want this to become a stand-up shouting match."

Stiffly, Alexander sat.

"Well, what exactly did you think you were doing? Explain it to me," Philip said.

"I saw an opportunity and I took it."

"Out from under my nose."

There was a pause as Alexander considered whether to dig himself deeper into a hole. His father was going to yell at him whatever. The only thing in doubt was his punishment.

"I hadn't even agreed to anything," Philip said, "And you jumped in with both feet and ruined any advantage we could have gained from it. Whose idea was that?"

"Mine."

Philip looked at his son. "Your mother's more like."

Alexander looked at his father and didn't answer. He knew he would lose his temper if he did. His mother touched chords in him that no one else did.

Philip drew a breath and decided to taka a different tack. "You know none of this was my idea, don't you? Aristocritus was sent to me with the plan. Both he and Pixodarus were aware that Arrhidaeus is not fully fit; neither of them were looking for a soldier to fight their battles. I am still not totally sure of Pixodarus's motives, but I can only guess he is looking to hedge his bets and retain a friendly stance for when we invade Asia. He knows it is coming; they all do after the declaration at Corinth. But you… You have scuppered any chance of that by telling them that Arrhidaeus is totally incompetent!"

Tight-lipped, Alexander still did not say anything but took his father's tongue lashing.

"You know what your mother's thinking is in doing this, don't you?" Philip continued, wanting to goad his son into losing his temper, so that he could legitimately yell at him. "It will advance Philinna's prestige over hers. Philinna will have a son married before she does, Philinna will have a royal daughter-in-law; Philinna will have grandchildren before she does; grandchildren who might one day rule. If anything happens to me, Arrihidaeus is my eldest son and Philinna and her family will push for him to be king, especially if he has children, and they will rule through him. That is your mother's thinking, because she wants to rule through you."

"But I would have had children."

"Stop listening to your mother! What do you want children for whose family bow down to the Persian Great king? You, who are likely to one day be king after me, can aim higher than that! You want heirs who are slaves to the Great King?"

Tightly, Alexander said, "You are arranging marriages for everyone but me. You have forgotten me."

"I will find you a wife when I am good and ready! I will find you a wife worthy of my heir, one who will bring prestige and honour to this family, not ignominy. You are barely more than a child yourself. You cannot do without your own mother to guide you, and yet you would place your children in her care? Do you realise how dangerous mothers are?"

"She is a good mother," Alexander said, temper and upset threatening.

"Oh, I don't doubt she is: as good a mother as a snake is." Philip exhaled noisily and looked away, realising he had got off track. His eyes rested briefly on Philotas. "I am informed," he said, looking back at Alexander, "that others also urged you to do this."

Alexander turned his head and looked blackly at Philotas.

"Alexander, I had no choice," Philotas said. "Philip already knew you had sent Thessalus and that you did not act alone. Would you have the king doubt mine and my father's loyalty to him, or to you? These men are not your true friends, Alexander. They are only thinking of their own advancement. They hope to make their fortunes through you."

"I cannot have men in my army, boy," Philip said, "whose first loyalty is not to me but to you. They have to go."

"They are my men: their loyalty should be to me."

"It is my army, boy, and every man jack of them has been mine for the past twenty five years, and will be until the day I die, or I will root them out!" Philip resettled himself in his chair, trying to rein in his temper. "They are ambitious and have given you bad advice. They thought more of advancing their own fortunes and importance than the consequences to you."

"It is my duty to protect them. I will vouchsafe their loyalty to you."

"Then give them money when I exile them. Erigyius and Nearchus, and Ptolemy too, are old enough to know better, and I will not have them infecting their men with their disloyalty; and tales of how great a hero Alexander is. Harpalus is just a greedy fool, and you are a bigger fool for listening to him."

"How long?" Alexander asked tersely.

"I've no idea. It's up to you. Behave yourself and prove your loyalty to me and we'll see in a year or two." Philip levered himself out of his chair and turned to face Alexander. "Have I made myself clear?"

"Yes, father."

"Good. You two, out."

Philotas stepped forward and said, "Alexander, I had your best interests at heart. We will need you when your father leads us into Asia."

Still positioned before his father, Alexander looked at Philotas, but did not reply. Philotas bowed slightly, turned and left the room, shepherded out by Hephaestion.

Philip cocked his eye at Alexander. "He's right. The army love you: they think you are their lucky talisman; that they will beat every Greek in sight with you at their side. An army lives on confidence and, at the moment, you give the army confidence. That's one reason I haven't exiled you too. I will also need you in my army as I get older and am less able to take the field."

Philip surveyed Alexander, knowing his son was a simmering cauldron of emotions. He was doing well to keep a lid on it. "Alexander, you need to grow up and stop listening to your mother. When I was your age, I hadn't set eyes on my mother for three years. I learnt to rely on my own judgement, as a man should, and I didn't get caught up in my mother's machinations. Half the stories you've heard about her are probably true. Remember, you might think women have your best interests at heart, but they have their own motives too which will turn round and bite you."

Alexander looked at Philip with eyes burning with strain, but still said nothing.

"You don't need to get married yet," Philip said, trying to be conciliatory. "Enjoy a couple more years with Hephaestion. Then maybe, who knows, we might persuade the Persian Great King to give you a daughter in marriage. Maybe I'll have one too."

Alexander gave him no ground and Philip grabbed him, pulled him close and whispered in his ear, "If you every try to overreach me again, boy, I will have your balls. I swear." He kissed his son's forehead and pushed him away. Alexander's jaw was still tightly shut, but his eyes were close to losing it with the conflict of emotions.

"Go," Philip said, turning towards the door. "Take yourself off on a hunting trip to Aegae or somewhere. I don't want to see your face around here for a few weeks. Or your cronies."

"Don't hurt mother!" Alexander's high voice called after him.

Philip waited a heartbeat before looking over his shoulder darkly. "As if," he said, turned and walked out of the room. Hephaestion was waiting further along the corridor and he started forward on seeing Philip, but stopped at the basilisk look on the king's face. Philip pulled the door shut and walked away. Hephaestion waited until he was out of sight before hurrying along the corridor to Alexander's door.

Alexander was pacing back and forth furiously, his hands clasped tightly behind his neck. "Arrgh!" he cried in frustration. "I have cost four men their homes and their careers!"

Hephaestion stood and watched him helplessly, unsure what to say or do for the best. Alexander met his eyes for a moment from between his tense elbows.

"I am never, ever getting married after this!" Alexander declared. "I will not be humiliated like this again!" He loosed his hands. "Can you lend me some money? I have to give Ptolemy and the others as much money as I can to see them on their way."

"Yes. Where will they go?"

"Larissa first, perhaps. Then maybe onto Corinth. There are friends there who could help them. Nearchus might want to go to Crete. I don't know."

Alexander began to move rapidly about the room, pulling a drawstring bag from a chest and beginning to stuff shoes and clothes into it.

"Go get packed," he ordered. "I want to be out of here before dark."

"Where are we going?"

"We'll see Ptolemy and the others on their way to Thessaly to start with. I daren't cross the border or Philip will think I've run. Then maybe we'll call on Aristotle at Mieza and then go onto Aegae." He stopped in front of Hephaestion, his bag under one arm and a bundle of weapons under the other. He looked at Hephaestion, then leant forward and kissed him full on the lips like a child would. "You have to come with me," he said. "Philip wants you out of the way as well as me for a bit. If you don't, he might find a reason to exile you too."

"I was coming with you anyway."

"But.." Alexander shifted his bundles which were slipping slightly.

"Are you going to say goodbye to your mother?"

"No." Alexander blinked and turned away. "She will only start crying and make me feel like the worst son in the world. Besides, Philip might be with her and I don't want to see him. He made it plain he doesn't want to see me either."

Hephaestion still hadn't made any move to leave. "You know it was Aristocritus who told Philip, don't you?"

Alexander turned and dropped his bag, shifting his weapons to both arms. "Yes. When he got the reply from Pixodarus."

"It wasn't Philotas and it wasn't Parmenion."

"No. And I know it wasn't you either."

"Philip and Parmenion pressured Philotas into telling them what he knew."

Alexander paused for a moment. "I don't blame anyone except myself. It was my decision, and thank you for not saying I told you it was stupid."

"It hasn't gained us anything."

"No, it has cost us a lot. But I will learn from it and not make the same mistake again." Alexander reached out and stroked Hephaestion's arm. "Come," he said quietly. "Hurry and get ready."

Hephaestion moved quickly and as he passed Alexander, caught his face in his hands and kissed him. "I love you, and we'll make it all right," he whispered, then hurried from the room to get ready.