On 1 May 1365, when she was 12 years old, she married James de Lusignan, the third son of King
Hugh IV of Cyprus and Alix of Ibelin, who three years later became her stepmother. James was 19 years her senior. As they were cousins, a Papal dispensation was required for their marriage. In 1368, he was made Constable of Cyprus, and in the following year became one of the regents for his nephew
Peter II after his eldest brother King
Peter I had been assassinated by a group of barons led by Philip Ibelin. Philip was the husband of James's niece,
Alicia of Majorca. The Queen Mother
Eleanor believed James and his brother,
John, had been part of the conspiracy to murder her husband. In 1372 James led a war against the Genoese; however, at its conclusion in 1373 when the Genoese invaded Cyprus, he and Helvis were compelled to flee the kingdom. They went to the island of Rhodes, where her first child, a daughter, was born on an unknown date and died as a baby in 1374. In the same year, James and Helvis were both captured by the Genoese, and taken as hostages to Genoa where they were imprisoned. It was recorded in the
Chronicle of Amadi that Helvis was constrained to perform manual work before she joined him in the prison, which was known colloquially as
la mal paga. It was there that she gave birth to their first son,
Janus, whom she named after the god who had been, according to an ancient legend, the traditional founder of Genoa. 11 other children followed, most of them having been born during her imprisonment. ==Queen of Cyprus==