The way Evras averted her eyes from Sil made him smile. It was adorable, and for the very first time, it made him feel like he needed no other woman but her. How can anyone this precious be kicked out onto the curb like this and get belittled? The redness in the woman’s cheeks made the young man’s blood roar, and a large part of him praised himself for his hard work.

When he dragged her to her doorstep, Sil could feel Evras hesitance. But that hesitance didn’t register into his brain. He was just far too down that road to even think clearly about his own actions. Speaking of one's actions, his own action had not only taken him by surprise, her as well. Also, that kiss brought out other forms of shock as well. Not very good ones either.

Just as he had turned to go, Sil felt himself being grabbed from behind. Before he could defend himself, he heard a familiar voice growl at him. Immediately he went rigid with fear as well as remorse. Shit! When in Hades did his brother appear? Did he see him kiss Evras? This situation was not good, not good at all. He felt himself go completely sober, before going cold with dread. If Timaeus saw it, who else saw it? He tried to use his now semi foggy mind to think.

The next sentence that came out of Tim’s mouth jerked Sil back out of his fear-induced haze. “Get your mangey paws off me, you old man. You're pissed drunk. You don’t know what you are saying or seeing.” He wriggled within his brother’s iron grip. Listening to Tim talk to Evras about him just made him even angrier, the alcohol in his body helped grew it hotter. With another growl, he spat, “Shut the hell up. Who are you calling boy?” If he had been slightly less drunk, he probably wouldn’t have said all those things. But he was, and he was probably going to pay for it dearly in the morning… if he lived to tell the tale.

As he got dragged away, Sil watched a small smile glistened on Evras’s face. That made him wonder what in the past few minutes had allowed her to feel amused. Nothing that was happening right now should make anyone feel amused. That added to his alcohol-induced anger as well. Being shoved now, by Tim and once again yelled at, the young man couldn’t help but retaliate. “Shut up. I guess I wasn’t thinking. But do tell me, if you were in my place wouldn’t you have done it too?” A lazy matching sneer glistened on his face as well.

Just as he was about to say more, a loud bang was heard from behind them. Sil quickly turned to see what was happening and what was left of the blood in his face disappeared as he saw the prince and Evras’s husband, Zanon of Kotas rushing towards them with a sword in hand and Evras in the other. Eyes zeroing in on Kotas’s hand around Evras’s neck made the young man see red, but the words that came out of the older man’s mouth made him think twice about his actions. He whipped his head around to face Tim, his blue eyes pleading for his brother not to hand him over and to help him. If he got out of here alive, he didn’t mind seeling his soul as well as body to Timaeus for the rest of his life.

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.

The hesitation in Timaeus' voice was imperceptible to the prince, the pause in the moment that seemed to stretch for ages was for him hardly a gap as his wife struggled against his grip. Adjusting his hold to include a weft of her hair, he turned her head so he could glare down into her eyes all of the hurt and betrayal and rage he was feeling clear in the gaze that was far too intoxicated to hide anything. After all this time. He'd been trying, or at least he'd been planning to. There hadn't been any time for them to talk, no time at all to try to repair the damage that he could admit he'd done, but now perhaps it was truly too far.

His head snapped back as Timaeus punched the slave, pointing out the one who had done the unspeakable act. For Evras to seek out someone else, the woman he'd thought would be constant through everything even when he thought her a witch, even when he shared his bed with others, proving now that she was just as bad as any of the rest of them. Stealing his son, poisoning the boy against him. It was all unforgivable.

Gaze fixed on the man pointed out to him, Zanon released his hold on Evras only temporarily, striding over with only one thought, ignoring any and all protestations of innocence as the sword plunged into the man's gut. It wasn't enough, and with the remaining bloodlust he twisted the weapon to rupture more innards before he withdrew the weapon and let it hang at his side, shoving the man away from him and watching him fall before he turned back to face his wife and the other men. It was unfortunate the baron had witnessed this, but then again if he was brother to the Stone Prince, why could he not be as feared.

Zan was silent as he moved back to his wife, catching her chin with a bloody hand and making sure the red stain had left its mark on her pale skin as his hand slid back through her hair once more, ready to drag the unfaithful princess inside to meet her fate.

"Goodnight, Timaeus."