Absolutely beautiful.

It's very curious your point of view about young Alexander: so naive and deeply devout towards the gods...

But I love your Hephaestion so in love with him and so ardently "hungry" for him... to the point of becoming quite selfish and taking advantage of Alexander's deep faith...

Your stories are always so sexy!

you are a good writer and really know your shit. i love your work. slowly i am read it all. unable to stop.. good job. and thank you for writing.

Heheh ! That was great ! Go Eros, is all I have to say !

Wow, what a beautiful story, and a highly erotic one at that! I loved every word of it. You have a style and touch that is so sensual to your stories that it is easy to just get lost in the landscape of them. I really like this one a lot. Perhaps the best so far. Thank you for sharing.

Eh, I remember that "suggestion" in "The Ivory eros"...it's a good idea to make a story about it :) And off course your fic is sweet and tender like always. Your Alexander is naughty and so childish still. Sweet and wise boy.

Parisad

Hi I've been reading your stories for sometime but only just joined this site. May I say I haven't read a bad story from you ever. Your writing is so clear, the characters real and the easy humour so realistic. Thanks

Beyond the fact that it was toe-curling hot, this was an extremely clever story. I loved how Hephaistion demanded the sacrifice in a moment of hotheadedness and the lesson he learned from it. Also, like in all your stories, the bittersweet foreshadowing of the fact that later on in life, when Alexander was king, he was not really in a position to make those kind of choices so often, in spite of his greater power. Thanks, great weekend reading

I really love thist story and so glad to see your new story. Thanks.

I'm speechless on how well you write this story!

It was very awesome! I love the descriptions of their feelings towards each other, so strong, passionate, yet beyond all of that - there's more!

Make a small sacrifice to Aphrodite...::laughs::

Ale wouldn't say no to that, definetely!

Great fic!

Another wonderful tale! I really like how Hephaestion was the one that convinced Alexander to be a little bad. It really was wonderful. Can't wait to read more from you no matter what it be.

Baliansword

Hi moon, more rambling from me This is a great forerunner to the Ivory Eros and The Substitute - and ties in to Discord in Love, too!

I noticed that it is Hephaestion's passion which makes Alexander feel godlike - which is an interesting point; I wonder what Alexander really thought of all Olympias' talk about him being the son of Zeus. Certainly he had a very strong belief in all omens and portents, and I guess the answer he got at Siwah was something along the lines of him being divine but even he must have down-in-the-dump days when he felt just wretchedly mortal like the rest of us. (Whether he would recognize that is something else . . .) Anyway it's the power of love! Very cool, the way you juxtapose the two sources of moral/spiritual elevation Alexander has - on the one hand, discipline and being responsible and princely, and on the other, Hephaestion's love! Usually they don't come into conflict with each other . . . too much. And we see here how Hephaestion can be so generous and understanding later - he's already had to work out these issues as a teenager.

"Well what, Father?" And Hephaestion hopes using the switch will hurt his father as much as it hurts him? - oh, I've wanted to shake sense into Alexander before but I think this is the first time I want to shake Hephaestion or something; doesn't he know his father only has his best interests in mind? Major mad props to you, Moon, for making me want to shake Hephaestion - and at the same time making me understand why he's being so thick-headed! He's not a saint either, and this shows there was a time when he was as vulnerable to insecurity and jealousy as Alexander. Okay, maybe not quite as much, but you know what I mean. And again you demonstrate that at this time his worldview isn't as broad as Alexander's at all - he looks forward to when Alexander's going to be king and they'll go on adventures and see new places, that in relation to political and social relations Alexander really is the more mature of the two of them - which just makes Alexander's "sacrifice" all the more meaningful.

There isn't any moment in this one that I want to shake Alexander. He's still very occupied with his princely duties but he does agree to make the sacrifice with Hephaestion, and says later he would have loved Hephaestion even if the gods didn't approve, which is a very momentous choice on his part, since he believes in the gods so much. And when he said, "Is it right that I should love you more than . . . I don't know, Perdiccas, or Leonatus? . . . It's a stupid question, really, because I _do_ love you more than them" he just . . . I wanted to give him, I dunno, cookies and a glass of milk or something! I can only imagine how it must have twisted Hephaestion's heart, to hear these declarations of the very sort of supreme love that drove him to come up with the idea of the sacrifice, just when he's realized that he's been quite selfish and short-sighted, even if the intention to harm Alexander in any way was never there. And Alexander's utter faith, far from being laughable (even if he really, literally believes in a little god flying around shooting arrows into people), is almost enviable - after all, though Hephaestion doesn't know it, the gods did accept their sacrifice, and now they're tied more closely than ever.

Now for super-dad Amyntor! (The epithets won't stop popping into my head. . .) He's magnificent, of course, strong and stern when he needs to be, intelligent and compassionate and perceptive . . . I really like how you have him outline the possible consequences: being sent away from Macedon would be in Philip's power, being sent poisoned cakes would be in Olympias', and being separated from Alexander - well as Hephaestion thought later, there were a thousand ways to do that. I also like very much that all these punishments would be carried out by Alexander's parents _in his best interest_, because they would see Hephaestion as a bad influence. Whatever differences they might have from each other, both Philip and Olympias do love their son. But back to Amyntor, though he can lay down the law he's also so very understanding - especially as demonstrated by that little smile when he told Hephaestion that Alexander denied that Hephaestion was with him when they missed the party. He knows just what to say to make Hephaestion rethink his way of loving Alexander - telling him how preventing Alexander from fufilling his princely duties would just make him a foolish boy in the eyes of the Court. And when Hephaestion realized his mistake and went back to his father there weren't even any words spoken, and Amyntor knew! Knew that Hephaestion had repented, that he had thought it out, and that he felt really miserable - and Amyntor could guess that in that misery there was nothing to rebuke, nothing selfish or ungrateful. It's really obvious where Hephaestion got his own ability to see behind masks and understand others' motivations.

Some favorite lines:

"I think they will fall in love with you . . . just as I did." (And all that about boring Athenians!)

"Hubris, Hephaestion."

"Faith."

They might not be listed as synonyms in the thesaurus but the two really are two sides of the same thing sometimes (like the whole "expecting the best arrogance" thingy). For whatever reason this little exchange between Alexander and Hephaestion in particular struck me as very beautiful.

"But whether he believed that the god in question was a boy who literally fired arrows into people’s bodies was another matter." HAHAHA!

Great to see another wonderful story from you, Moon! Thank you for this! I love that we got to see Alexander's sacrifice to Eros that we read about in "The Ivory Eros." After all, it's this youthful sacrifice that brought Hephaistion back from the dead...

This is very beautiful; it shows the cementing of the boys' love from the everyday garden-variety to the truly extraordinary. Hephaistion starts off by being a little selfish, insecure and manipulative, but at the end is reassured of the depth of Alexander's love - that he will not put his parents or even Macedon above Hephaistion. And Alexander seems to have received Eros' blessing that it's okay and god-approved to love Hephaistion above all else, as he seems to have done throughout his life!

I liked Amyntor in this again. He punishes his son, but also makes him see what he did was wrong. Lovely relationship between the two. Philip seems to have been very understanding - perhaps recalling an incident or two from his own youth? But I do wonder what Olympias felt - poisoned honey-cakes, anyone?

Lastly, the description of Hephaistion's thighs... hmm... I can quite see why Diogenes wrote that Alexander was "ruled by those thighs!" Who wouldn't be? ;)

Hello, moon71,

Well done!

Many thanks for sharing this wonderful story. It has so much to tell us, and, I think, rings so very true to the *real*essence of the Love and Friendship Alexander and Hephaestion feel for each other.

I like it a lot, the intriguing beginning with the beautiful description of an Alexander being prepared for a Formal and Important occasion, a Prince Perfect in every inch - and then Hephaestion is totally overwhelmed by his passionate feelings, and Eros makes him come up with the sacrifice suggestion - and his Beautiful Golden One lets himself be persuaded. Yes, the God of Love must have had a hand in this - causing so much trouble but also making them realize their deep and true feelings.

I'm glad Hephaestion could make amends to his Father Amyntor, despite the cruel and unjust punishment he got. I feel so sorry for him, haiving to take so many physical and emotional beatings through the years for his love to his Beautiful Golden One.

All the best wishes,

/NorthernLight

This is excellent Moon! Another beautiful story with romance and erotic detail. A & H's early relationship is described so well. Thanks.