Her brother Romanos II succeeded to the throne and his wife Theophano convinced him to send all five of his sisters to the convent of Kanikleion.
Later they were split: Theodora, Zoe, and Theophano were sent to the monastery of Antiochus, while Agatha and Anna were sent to Myrelaion, a nunnery built by their maternal grandfather.
However Theophano and John Tzimiskes, Nikephoros' nephew, organized his assassination on the night of 10–11 December 969.
His previous marriage to Maria Skeleraina had solidified an alliance with general Bardas Skleros, but the loyalties of the rest of the Byzantine Empire were not as secure.
IV, The Byzantine Empire (1966) by Joan M. Hussey attributes to this marriage the birth of a daughter, Theophano Kourkouas.