Alexandros, a prince of Macedon, has been a pawn in his parents’ battle for power from his earliest memories. His whole life in the cut-throat world of the royal court has been spent walking the knife edge of their warring demands, balancing his duty to King Philippos’ legacy with his obligations to his mother Olympias and her fierce ambitions, rarely seen as a person in his own right. While tending his horse, he has a chance encounter with Hephaistion, a boy from the back hills who says exactly what he thinks and who sees Alexandros in a way no one else ever has. Hephaistion arrived for training at the Royal Page School in Pella with one goal: to make his father proud. But the maddening boy he unceremoniously meets on Pella’s training fields turns Hephaistion's world upside down. Alexandros is exceptional in every way, and unlike anyone he has ever met before, and their close friendship drags Hephaistion into the world of the royal court where intrigue, infighting, and politics put their lives on the line. Hephaistion is unprepared to find himself so close to the heart of the royal household, and Alexandros is reluctant to put his complete trust in anyone after growing up surrounded by treachery. As they navigate the dangers of the court and the world around them, a relationship born out of chance becomes the foundation of an empire. Their friendship marks the start of a journey beyond the bounds of the world they know, beyond even any world they could imagine, and into legend.