While Silanos was out on the town, enjoying the simple pleasures of life with someone else’s wife, his older brother Timaeus had spent his evening in the Kotas Manor dealing with the responsibilities that came with his title. As the vassal of the royal house, the young baron had to spend many evenings meeting with the various men of the family to discuss matters such as politics or the state of Eubocris. Personally, he found the matters tedious and awkward for the man who, even after two years, barely knew what he was doing. Luckily for him, the Valaoritis had a tradition of just going along with whatever the larger house did and Timaeus didn’t see any reason to break that anytime soon. After all, he was too inexperienced and had too little to risk rocking the boat. Whatever Kotas said, Valaoritis did. It was a simple system that worked well for four generations and as far as Timaeus knew, it would continue to function like this until one of the houses collapsed.

That didn’t mean though that he was freed from the political dance he was forced to play whenever he had a meeting with the family.

Tonight had been no exception. Earlier, that afternoon, Timaeus had received an invitation from Prince Zanon to talk about the state of Eubocris after the Wrath of Boreas and an invitation from the royal household was something that the Baron couldn’t refuse. So, as much as Timaeus wanted to follow his usual evening plan of shutting himself up in the wine cellar and nursing more than a few bottles through the night; he dressed up in all the finery a Baron was expected to wear and made his way to the royal residence. Luckily, he hadn’t spent the evening cold turkey as Zanon had graciously kept the wine flowing throughout their discussions of how high the river had flooded, how many homes were affected, and what the province needed to recover. Of course, scattered in between these conversations were politely-subtle inquiries about how Timaeus was going to vote in the Senate when it reconvened, countered of course with Timaeus’s questions about the condition of Prince Vangelis. Both, of course, knew the answers before they were asked; however, Zanon wanted him to vote and not to be disclosed at the moment. The hours-long conversation may not have seemed overly productive in the end, --probably due to the fact that both men spent more time drinking than anything-- but when Timaeus went to leave he had the promise of the import of fresh water and a slightly increased supply of food to aid the people until the flood water fully receded. Although these actions may seem like very little, it would do a great deal for the recovery of the Gorge and it would keep the people appeased with the Valaoritis house for just a little while longer.

That had been more than what Timaeus had hoped for.

So, when Timaeus said his goodbyes to the Prince and made his exit, he was exhausted but relieved that the night had been a success. With any luck, Timaeus would be able to go home with the shipment of supplies and be able to check on the two members of his family he had left behind in Eubocris. However, the moment he opened the door and stepped out into the night air, he knew that it would probably be a while before he saw Periellea, his mother, and Roxana, his cousin, again.

Because who else would be standing there, but his little brother, Silanos, with the Princess Evras.

It may have been the wine flowing through his system and dulling his thoughts, but at first, Timaeus was confused at the sight. After all, what was his brother doing out here with Zanon’s wife? However, as he glanced at the startled, but blushing, face of the princess and the familiar way his brother was moving back from the Princess did it fit together in his mind.

Silanos had just kissed Princess Evras.

Timaeus had just watched his brother, a no one as far as the political system was concerned, kiss the princess who was also the wife of a prince and most certainly off limits.

What the actual hell did Silanos just do?

With an uncontrollable, but all too familiar, rage built up with him, Timaeus reached out and grabbed the back of his brother’s chiton before he could make his signature getaway. “Oh no you don’t,” the baron growled as he latched onto the fabric, trapping his brother in his grip. The fire in his eyes was unmistakable, he was enraged and as far as he was concerned, Silanos was now a dead man.

Unable to control his emotions, he snapped at the younger version of himself, “What the actual f--- are you doing!?!” Kissing another man’s wife was bad enough, but kissing the wife of a prince? Kissing the lady of their pledged house? Did Silanos want to kill himself via public execution?! Even in his slightly drunken state, Timaeus understood what his brother seemingly did not. There would be consequences for this action and they would be severe.

And there would be nothing Timaeus could do to protect him.

Still holding tight to his brother’s chiton, Timaeus used his free hand to shift his grip to Sil’s arm before turning to the princess who had to witness the spectacle unfolding. Pulling his anger inwards just for a moment he said to her, “My apologies Princess, but this boy,” he said with a sneer to his brother letting the insult, as Sil was well over age, sink in, “Is not going to be bothering you any longer.” He then gave the princess a slight bow and pulled his brother towards the gate, away from the Kotas manor. It was easy for him to do as the elder brother had the muscles built by his years in the military and the sheer drunken anger to do it. It was a good thing that Tim had the upper hand though, who knew what else Sil might have done if he hadn’t appeared.

Once they were far enough away from the manor to be out of earshot, Timaeus released his brother with a small shove forward. However, he wasn’t going to get off scot-free as Tim was now free to release his full rage upon his heir, “What were you thinking, you idiot!?! Do you not realize what you have just done!?!”

Lord help Valaoritis if they were going to get out of this one unscathed.

Perhaps why Zanon's rejection of her hurt the most, was because of the reason she suspected was behind it. That he had begun trusting the rumors that surrounded her. She had so many thoughts on the reasons why; that she no longer had the beauty he once sought, that her figure was no longer as slender as he liked, that he believed the words of the public of her being a witch. But out of all of them, he last would sting the most. For that meant that her husband did not trust her, even after eleven years of marriage, and eight years of bliss. None of that could go against the word of the public.

She really thought she knew him better.

Which was why Silanos's words were like a balm to her heart - it was uplifting to know that someone like Silanos who had just met her and properly conversed with her today, could believe in her so much. Much more then her own husband, who she had once upon a time thought knew her better then anyone else. Evras smiled, shyly averting her eyes to her feet as they strolled. Being called a goddess did that to one, after all, and the kiss he pressed to the back of her knuckles merely made her cheeks flush further.

Evras had assumed that he would leave, but he caught her by surprise by insisting to walk her right to her door, and her heart jumped to her throat when he grabbed her by her hand and pulled her towards the manor, hand around her fingers. Where was her husband? Zanon's temper was something Evras did not want to trifle with - especially of late, the display in their room the other night scaring her more then she'd care to admit. But Silanon was apparently not taking no for an answer, despite Evras's arguments.

By the time they got to the steps, she had paused breathless in front of him, loss of what words to use to thank him.

But she didn't need to.

The kiss caught her off guard. It was sweet, chaste, merely a brush of the young male's against her own ruby red ones. But it did its job in taking her breathe away. Evras barely registered how Silanon backed away and said quick goodbyes, her mind halting the moment she had felt lips against her own. She had never felt other's lips, other then her husband. And it was different. In that instant... whether it was good or bad, she was not sure, but she knew any kiss Silanon gave was far different from Zanon's.

Barely with enough time to collect her thoughts, the door swung open before the young one could even dash off, and Evras felt her pale skin flushing when she saw an elder figure she recognized as the Timaeus, a male she had had the pleasure of gaining acquaintence of just a few weeks prior.

And apparently, the brother of her new companion.

Watching as the elder grabbed Silanos by his chiton, a part of Evras felt bad when she saw him snapping, and Evras was about to jump in in Silanos's defense, yet was stopped by the baron of Eubocris's quick words, giving her no chance to respond before he dragged her away. Watching, a small smile had started on her lips, as she turned on her heels, about to go in to the residences, when the door was flung open again,and before Evras could even look to see who was it, her head was jerked wildly, a loud gasp escaping her as she found herself dragged down the steps after Silanos and Timaeus by none other then her husband.

It was painful, his grip. Tight, with fingers digging into her skin hard enough that Evras had no doubt it would cause her bruises, it brought tears to her eyes, and she had little choice to follow his drag. "Zanon! Let go of me!" her voice was high pitched, as she squirmed and gasped in pain even more when the movement further made his fingers dig in. Lopsided now leaning into his grip in order to reduce the pain as much as she could, barely registering how gruff his voice was, she lay a hand over his wrist and gave a fierce tug, "Zanon let go!"

Timaeus scoffed at the struggling boy’s insults as he struggled to gain the upper hand. “You know what? Save it..” He said harshly as his brother called an old man and pissed drunk. Timaeus didn’t care what Silanos had to say. He knew what he saw and unlike the equally drunk younger man, he understood how serious this all was. That wasn’t a common town whore Timaeus had decided to lock lips with. She was the princess and it didn’t matter who initiated it, or why it had happened. Timaeus knew the blame would be squarely on Silanos’s shoulders.

Where it rightfully should be. His brother should have known better than to make out with the wife of a prince That easily had to be one of the dumbest things that someone like them could do and here Silanos was, doing it and not giving a flying f---. Not that this was out of character for him. It was only a matter of time before Timaeus caught the wild child screwing up… but he never thought it would have been done so royally. Leave it to Silanos for managing it though.

“Clearly you weren’t! Tim snapped at his brother when he supplied some half-hearted excuse that did nothing to help the situation. “You never think, do you?!” Timaeus moved forward to grab his arm again and pull him home, screaming if he had to when another voice broke the silence and sent a chill down his spine.

“Timaeus. Turn him over to me.”

Suddenly, it was so silent a pin could drop and they would hear it hit the ground. His angry expression lessened as he turned to see a truly terrifying sight. There stood Zanon, gripping Evras by the neck, the anger he felt shown clearly on his face and it didn’t take a genius to realize that it was much stronger and uncontrollable than what Tim felt. A sense of panic gripped Timaeus’s chest as he looked between the sword in the prince’s hand, the terrified look on Evras’s face, and the murderous intent in Zanon’s eyes. There was no mistaking what the prince intended to do if he handed his brother over to him.

Instead of returning home to Eubocris with supplies for the people, he’d go back with a coffin.

His anger instantly calmed for a moment as his stomach churned and his throat began to close up. For a second, he couldn’t see the shocked expression on his brother’s face as the words sunk in. All he could see flashing before his eyes was the image of Nicomedes collapsing at the table. Tim rushing over to catch his brother before he hit the floor. Failing at this. How the wine goblets rattled as his head hit the floor. The blankness in his eyes as his tried to revive him. Oh, how those eyes haunted Timaeus every night… but right now? At this moment? Timaeus didn’t see the fading image of Nicomedes’s face. No. It was Silanos that Tim was struggling to catch. Struggling to revive. Struggling to save.

Five little words.

That’s all Zanon needed to sentence Silanos to death.

The bile in the back of his throat began to rise as he felt the darkness close in on the brothers who were now both very aware that they were moments away from losing each other. The most terrifying part though? There was nothing Timaeus could do to save his baby brother, the only other Valaoritis he had left in this world. Zanon had a directly ordered the baron to hand over Silanos to him and even though Timaeus had his back to the prince, frozen into place by his words, he couldn’t remain this way forever. He was honorbound to obey the Kotas Prince or both of them would be his sword’s missing sheath.

The thought, and the fear, of his own death, was enough to shake his mind back to reality and forced him to evaluate his options. Timaeus could not just had over his brother to be killed. No matter how angry he was, he could never do that. For a second he debated making Silanos’s relation to him known to the drunk, but he couldn’t promise that it wouldn’t do more harm than good. But it didn’t seem as if he had any other options… or at least he didn’t until he caught a glimpse of a group of slaves nearby who were preparing the baron’s horse for the ride back to his home in the upper levels. That’s when a foolish plan came to mind. A foolish and risky plan that in any other situation wouldn’t be worth it. But desperate times called for desperate fools to risk it all. So, without saying a word, Timaeus turned back to his brother and took a step forward as if was going to grab him.

Instead, he reeled his arm back and slugged Sil across the face.

It came without any warning and based on the large thud that rang through the courtyard, bouncing off the cobblestone into the night air, it had to hurt. Timaeus cringed slightly as his brother stumbled backwards. He didn’t mean to hit his brother that hard. “I must be more sober than I thought I was,” he silently thought as he surveyed the damage he had done. However, he made no move to help his brother up. Instead, before the younger boy had even a chance to cry out. Timaeus bellowed into the night, channeling the anger that was churning within him, “I told you before and I will tell you again. You are to STAY OUT OF MY WAY.” The harshness in his voice would probably sting his brother just as badly as his flesh wounds, but if the gods were willing, it was loud enough to drown out any of this fool’s protest from Zanon’s drunken ears. “You know your place. You are here to pay off your debts, not pretend to be a hero.” The statement was harsh, cold, and held none of the brotherly love that Timaeus still had for Silanos, even though his anger was on full display. Hopefully, this statement was enough for Silanos to figure out the role he was meant to play for the next few minutes if he wanted to make it out of here alive.

Turning away from the young man left in the dirt, Timaeus looked around the small group that he had noticed earlier. His emotionless expression settled on one man in the party of slaves who had accompanied Timaeus to the manor tonight. In the tense atmosphere, his gaze seemed to linger on the young man for an uncomfortably long time even though it was only a matter of a few seconds. Turning back to his leige, Timaeus said with a calm sincerity while motioning his head over to the boy, “That’s the mongrel you’re looking for, your highness”

The slave’s eyes widened as he realized what was happening, but it was too late. Timaeus had already pegged him as the one who stole what belonged to Zanon, this would be the man whose blood would decorate the sword in the prince’s grip. Given the Kotas’s drunken state, it was certainly believable too. The dead man had a similar build and height as Silanos, though in every other regard they couldn’t look less alike. However, Timaeus knew that from his own buzzed state of mind and how long it took him to realize that Sil and Evras had kissed, that it would be a moment or two before Zanon realized the trick… if he still had the cognitive abilities to see past his anger in order to do so.

That was all they needed.

Turning away from the carnage was surely about to happen, Tim turned back to his little brother, wisely keeping his mouth shut for once in his life. Keeping with the act, the baron roughly pulled his brother up from the ground and hissed at him, “Get out of here.” He then turned back to Zanon, ignoring the “slave” he had just disciplined. For the first time since he realized that his little brother was in danger, he glanced back at Evras and shook his head slightly at her, as if to say the silent message that was on everyone’s minds at the moment.

Don’t say a single word. Let what is going to happen, happen.

And maybe… just maybe… Silanos could get out of this alive.