She felt his breathe slow down, and felt him come down from his enthusiastic high. Willing herself to stay as still and calm as possible, so he would fall in his slumber. When he called her wife, it was simply another stake to her heart - to join the many that she had buried there herself. It was something Zenais had come to terms with... was it possible to ever become numb to pain? For she was beginning to suspect that that was exactly what she was getting at.

In silence, Zenais feigned sleep, as she listened to his heartbeat next to hers. For an hour, and then two, his heartbeat slowed to a steady thump, and the chilly air dried the sweat from their skin. As the streets quiet and the night slipped deeper, only when it was well and truly still, did Zenais move. Only a fraction at first, to check if Yiannis would stir. And when he did not, she slowly shifted herself out from under his arm, dropping silently onto the floor. Gathering her chiton, she haphazardly placed it on, dragging a long black cloak to drape over her shoulders, before hurrying out of the Alistaire manor.

With her hood drawn up over her head, clutched the signet ring she had placed carefully on the dining table where they had been before Yiannis had brought her above stairs, her other hand holding the ends of her skirts up as she ran barefooted across the small courtyard, towards the stables. There, the young teenager was quick to saddle her horse (the manor had long been understaffed, from the lack of funds). The whole time she moved in the dead of the night, her heart thudded as if a hundred wolves ran after her, her breathe coming heavy and hard. Zenais would often look behind her shoulder as she moved, the ghosts of her own conscience haunting her.

Her memories intermingled, Yiannis smiles with the scrawl of her brother's words on a missive she had received just a few mornings ago. Calix had heard. He had heard arguments. He had seen the debtors coming every morning to the Alistaire mansion in Lyncaea. Zenais simply had no time any longer, and it was simply by luck that Yiannis had chosen tonight. Driven by sheer desperation to help her parents and her young eight year old brother who couldn't tell what was going on and could only cry to his only elder sibling for help, Zenais vaulted on her horse, arranging the black cloak to cover her feet, before urging the horse on.

Her first stop was down the streets of Midas, to where she knew was the quarters of the old Master of Coin. There, Zenais thudded on the door until she received an answer by an old maid, who hurried to wake the old master. He grumbled, but then frowned when Zenais pushed the signet ring in his face. "Why would the prince not come see me himself?" he asked, a skeptical look directed in Zenais's direction. Her heart jumped to her throat, but the young girl willed herself to not show any outward reaction. Instead, the brunette forced herself to tilt her chin upwards in a haughty look, displaying the expensive green necklace she wore, hoping it lent enough credence to her claim "The prince has his reasons. I am his fiance, and you will do well to fulfill his request. A bag of 500 drachmae, please."

"I will need to confirm with the King and the prince himself, for-"

"Then hand me half the payment first. The prince needs it urgently and he is unable to leave where he stands. I need to deliver it to him." Zenais was desperate, and she hoped the Master did not hear her voice crack. 250 drachmae would not be enough to settle all the debts, but at the very least, it would be sufficient to ensure they did not come knocking at their door again.

The Master of Coin narrowed his eyes at the small brunette at his doorway, and then back at Zenais, before giving a small nod. Holding the signet ring in his grip, he disappeared and reappeared a moment later with a small, heavy bag. But when Zenais reached out to take the ring, he held it back. "Nay. I... need it for the records. I shall return it come morning."

Zenais bit her lip but nodded. It would not do now to insist she get the ring back, for it would simply arouse suspicion. Instead, Zenais loped the bag of coins around her saddlebag, getting on the horse. With a pull of her reins, she led the horse down the streets of Midas again, a fervent hope on her lips that the Master would not ask Yiannis where the money had been used for. Yiannis was known for his unorthodox method of battle - she had hoped this would be chalked up as one of the times.

But not to the Alistaire manor in the capital city. No, Zenais led her horse down the road leading away from the city, and down towards where the harbor of Midas was. From there, she would take a boat that was waiting, the captain of which she promised a handsome payment should he agree to take her at any time of the day. From the bag, she fished out 10 golden coins for him, and within a few hours, Zenais would find her feet on Lyncaean ground again. There, the young girl would seek out as many of her father's debtors as she could before the sun rose, disposing of as many of the gold coins as she can until she had paid off a majority of the debts. Only then, did Zenais return to her familial home, smiling in a tired manner as the sun rose.

As she collapsed on the kline of the manor's sitting room, her bleary eyes looked up as a young boy of eight walked in the room, and widening said eyes when he saw Zenais's prone form on the couch. The girl herself smiled at the sight of her younger brother, and reached out to embrace him as he came sailing into her arms. "Its fine now, Calix. No one will come and disturb them again."

Or so Zenais hoped. When her parents arrived, she told them that the prince had proposed to her, and that she had used the jewelry to repay the debts her father had. The family had joy for the first time in months.

But it was to never last.