He heard the sound of quiet sobbing before he discovered the teenager, sitting by herself after a successful ball, and a few potential conquests for the bedchamber that night.

"Ma princesse charmante!" he clucked. "What is such a fine fille such as yourself doing outside, crying, on the night of such a successful ball?"

Tallusa looked up and turned the full force of her big brown eyes on him.

"Clarke says he doesn't love me anymore," she whimpered, as Reaver came and sat by her. "He says I'm prude."

"I beg your pardon?" Reaver asked quietly.

"Clarke says the only way he could keep loving me is if I 'put out'," Tallusa continued.

"The boy wants to bed you?" he asked, lip curling.

"But I don't want to give up my virginity before I'm married!" she wept, burying her face in Reaver's coat.

"Belle royale, that man does not love you," Reaver assured her. "No man who loved a woman properly would stake his relationship on the removal of her virginity."

"Should…should I have stayed with Elliot?" Tallusa asked quietly.

"I think, ma chere," Reaver began, "that I need to go have a few words with this…this…boy."

"Ooh, stop it," one of the girls giggled, unaware that Reaver was watching the dark-haired boy next to her slip his arm around her waist.

"So, I am assuming, boy, that you are Clarke?" Reaver asked loudly.

"And what do you care?" Clarke asked, having not turned around.

"I care about what you have done to ma belle princesse," Reaver replied sharply.

Clarke turned around and his mouth dropped open.

"R-Reaver," he squeaked, "I didn't-I had no idea-"

"That it was me?" Reaver finished for him. "Oh dear. Perhaps you should speak more politely to strangers."

"W-what do you want, s-sir?" Clarke stuttered.

"You would dare insult my little princess by refusing to 'love' her unless she gave her virginity to you?" Reaver barked. "You are a fool, Clarke Hemmingworth-Alderly-Snicke."

"I-I wanted to be a man," Clarke stammered, backing away.

By now, most of the room was staring at the spectacle.

"A man? You want to be a man?" Reaver sneered. "Come back when you've got the balls to be in a commitment, boy, then we'll see how manly you are." He turned to go, and then stopped. A smirk curved his lips upwards. He swivelled around again to face Clarke.

"Actually, perhaps you could prove that you are man enough," he began, his eyes glinting wickedly. "I challenge you to a duel. If you win, you are a man. If I win, you're a snivelling, disgusting wimp of a boy, and the servants are allowed to address you as such whenever you visit the castle."

Clarke held in a scream as Reaver dragged him outside.

"Reaver?" Tallusa asked, as they passed her. "What are you doing?"

"Teaching this little boy a lesson. We're duelling," Reaver replied.

"Reaver, you'll kill him!" she gasped.

"Not a bad thing, surely," the deviant replied, muttering.

She fought to keep a grin down at that.

"Now then-ah, look, we have a crowd!" Reaver began, suddenly cutting into his own sentence. "Perfect! Clarke-somebody hand the boy a pistol, will you?-I'm sure you know the general gist of duels, right?"

"Y-yes," the boy stammered. Tallusa appeared by Reaver and suddenly something shot across his face. He glared at her.

"I know why he's defending you!" he shouted. Reaver had his pistol out already. "You're not a virgin; you slept with him!"

And then he was doubling over, clutching his crotch, because Tallusa had snatched the pistol from Reaver quicker than anyone's eyes had followed, and shot him in between his legs.

"I hope it falls off!" she shouted angrily, as Reaver patted her hand.

"Excellent shot, cher, excellent shot," he complimented her.

"I was aiming for his head," she muttered. "You should teach me how to use a gun."

"That, my dear," he began, "I think I will. This will be fun."

A/N Strangerthings4 told me that I should write about Tallusa's first heartbreak. Well, this was more difficult than writing about her as a child, I have to admit.

Thankyou for loving these fics!

Lizabetta