The imperials had insisted that Nikephoros would be engaged to one of the daughters of the emperor's right-hand man, John Kantakouzenos.

When the time of the engagement came, Nikephoros had vanished.

Andronikos learned that Nikephoros had fled to Italy, with the help of members of the Epirote aristocracy who supported an independent Epirus.

He stayed in Taranto, Italy, in the court of Catherine II of Valois (Philip of Taranto's widow), the titular empress of Constantinople.

A revolt had begun in 1339, supported by Catherine of Valois, who had previously moved to the Peloponnese, and by Nikephoros, who had returned to Epirus, based in Thomokastron.

The imperial army had returned to the area by the end of the year and in the following year, 1340, Andronikos III himself arrives together with John Kantakouzenos.

Nikephoros is persuaded through diplomacy to recognize the authority of the emperor.

He surrenders Thomokastron, marries Maria Kantakouzene, the daughter of John Kantakouzenos, and receives the title of panhypersebastos.