Hephaestion- Survivor

Chapter 26

"You can't imagine how much I miss our home." I said as Hephaestion entered our bedroom.

"We'll return as soon as possible, I promise." He kissed my forehead. "Beside, we are together here. I can send a letter to bring Jane if you want." He suggested.

"If she wants." I shrugged. I would give anything to have her here but also I didn't want to seem selfish for asking her to leave her house and come to live with us.

"Good. Now let's go. Alexander said he wants to introduce us to someone."

"Who?"

"Some soldier from the persian army. He betrayed Darius after bad treatment. He knows how we can catch him."

As we entered the king's room I had a shock. Cold shivers ran down my spine when I saw the familiar figure of the mysterious man; the black hair and slim but fit figure, the green mischievous eyes and all the facial features contoured the image of a respected man from a higher class. But I knew better than to trust the appearances.

"You..." I whispered. From the corner of my eye I could see Hephaestion looking at me.

The man smirked and advanced towards me. I instinctively took a step back only to make that smirk grow wider. I felt my lover's hand on my back. "You know him?" He asked

"Princess Ella... My one and only failure." The man grabbed my hand to kiss it but I snatched it away from him.

"Don't touch me." I hissed. Everyone in the room was looking at us but he didn't seem bothered by that.

"You can't imagine how surprised I was when I've sent my people in the desert and they told me that you were saved." He said. Staring into his eyes brought unwanted memories. I was relieving that horrible moment from my past over and over again. As I felt tears forming I run from to my bedroom locking myself in.

I let myself lean against the door and the tears started to fall. I could hear yells from the other room. They belonged to Hephaestion and the king and some threats from Cleitus. After a few minutes there was silence again, except from the sound of footsteps on the hall. The person, which I assumed was Hephaestion, tried to convince me to open the door.

"Please leave, I want to be alone." I pleaded through sobs.

"Look Ella. We are together in this. I don't want you to face your problems alone. I might not always know what to say or what to do, but at least I will be right by your side. "

I stood for a moment to gather my thoughts. Hephaestion was one of the few people that showed me unconditional love. When I had nothing he gave me everything. It would be stupid to destroy our relationship for a ghost of my past.

I cracked the door and met his blue eyes. "Don't push me away, please. Don't build a wall around you again." His palm caressed my cheek through the half open entrance.

I closed my eyes and made a sign for him to enter. He wasted no second and wrapped his arms around me.

"Calm down, love. I won't allow anyone to hurt you. You're safe" He was saying as his hand were gently caressing my hair. At that point my tears were streaming down my face like a river. Every emotion that I've bottled up for the last months got out. I couldn't handle everything. At first it was the battle, then the new place, the small quarrels I've had with Hephaestion and now this. In this hurricane of unpredictable events I needed a rock. I didn't realize that we were on the floor. I was safely tucked into his embrace. I took a deep breath and tried to calm. I wanted to speak but every phrase that came out of my mouth was incoherent.