I completely forgot I had this written tbh! I felt I couldn't do the original characters and setting justice, and so I decided to do a silly modern au instead. Enjoy!

Word count: 3,119

Disclaimer: I do not own the His Fair Assassin Trilogy nor any of its characters or lore. Robin LaFevers does.

Sybella d'Albret was quite possibly one of the most intimidating girls on the entire campus of the Academy of St Mortain. She was dizzyingly beautiful and stunningly cold. Currently, she was also suspended.

Sybella ducked under her father's bedroom window and sprinted across the grass of her family's lawn. The house itself was just as beautiful and cold as she was, carved from austere marble and surrounded by iron gates. It was Wednesday, and so there wouldn't be any guards on the premises. Her father hated to spend money on the comfort and safety of his children, and so half of the servants were only there during the weekends.

It was stupidly easy to get across the lawn, skipping around trees and ducking under statues and fountains to avoid the cameras she knew were hidden around the lawn.

The gate was taller than she, but that didn't stop her. Hiking up her skirt and stuffing it into her belt, she wrapped her fingers around the topmost bar and pulled herself up. Muscles straining, she hooked her leg up and over, twisted her skirt out of the way, and leaped onto the other side. She landed with a soft thump but sprang to her feet immediately, pleased.

She hadn't cut herself on any of the fleurs-de-lis that decorated the tops of the fence this time. Tugging her skirt back into place, Sybella trotted down the street. It was four in the morning, and the streets were still, save for the occasional crow or squirrel.

She hadn't had a plan when she'd left. Her father would undoubtably be furious with her should he ever find out, but he was gone on a business trip. She felt light, lighter than she'd felt in years. She didn't have to go to school once the sky lightened and she didn't have to deal with her father's wrath, and she was free to do as she pleased.

She wondered if she could make it all the way downtown, to the house where she'd ferreted away her sisters.

Sybella's feet took her in that direction, and she walked past the other grand houses on her street as though she had a purpose. The night air sent goosebumps up her arms and she had to resist twirling just to feel the weight of her skirts around her and the air in her hair.

It smelled different, too. Fresh and clean. Funny how the absence of just a few people could make everything so much better!

The sky was just beginning to lighten as she finally entered the suburbs of the city. She was just a shadow, ghosting past these flat, square houses as their lights began to flicker on and their residents began to stir and make breakfast. Ismae lived several streets down, Sybella knew, but Ismae would also be aghast to learn that she'd been suspended.

"Not that it was my fault," Sybella muttered aloud, as if Ismae was there and could hear. She could so clearly imagine Ismae's response, the corners of her lips turned down into a disapproving frown.

Suddenly irritated with herself, Sybella turned down a side street, hoping to find a shop to buy a coffee. Maybe she could even convince the cashier to give it to her for free, if she batted her eyelashes right.

She was so preoccupied with her thoughts that she hardly even noticed that there was somebody in front of her before she walked into him. It was like walking into a brick wall; she nearly fell backwards while the wall she'd walked into hardly even flinched.

Stepping back quickly to avoid landing flat on her back, Sybella looked up (and up and up), her full lips twisting into a scowl. "Watch where you're going." Her voice was as sharp as broken glass, and her eyes as hard.

The man looked back down at her, eyes hostile. He was astoundingly ugly, face covered in scars and pimples and bruises. Even without those, he was still ugly. His nose was large and bent and his brows thick and wiry and his skin rough and his hair in need of cutting. The hostility in his eyes melted away as he examined her.

She bristled, uncomfortable with the nature of his stare. It wasn't the way her brother looked at her or the way strange men looked at her when she was walking alone at night. It was softer, gentler, more earnest. It struck her suddenly that, despite his size, he looked like he was still in school. "Well?" she asked, folding her arms so that she appeared even more cross than before.

He mirrored her stance, either subconsciously or not, and replied mildly, "I think you were the one who wasn't looking where you were going."

She flashed a brittle smile at him, one that showed all her teeth and no kindness. "Perhaps you should mind your manners."

His eyebrows went up; it did nothing to improve his looks. "Does that not apply to yourself as well?"

Later, Sybella would admit that she had walked directly into that one. But right now she merely squared her shoulders. "I don't have to be talking to you right now." She turned to continue walking, but stopped short upon seeing a lanky boy rounding the corner. He was tall and dressed entirely in black, the silver crest of the Academy of St Mortain emblazoned across his breast, for all that it was an all girls' school.

She recognized him immediately, of course. He was one of the three boys called "the Headmistress' crows." They liked to spy on the girls and report their comings and goings to Headmistress Etienne de Froissard. She turned, hoping that he hadn't seen her face, but his voice cut across the park lawn easily. "Sybella! Is that you?" His voice was friendly, but there was an icy warning just beneath the warmth.

Gritting her teeth, Sybella fashioned her face into one of great loftiness. She turned and looked down her nose at him as he approached her. "It is," she said simply, not deigning to say anything else when it would mean a longer conversation.

He stopped several feet from her, examining her with coal-black eyes. For all that he was scrawny and sour-looking, there was also a distinct sense of danger about him. Sybella used to joke that the crows murdered people during teacher work days. Annith always insisted that was nonsense, although she smiled anyways.

His pale face split into a smile that was eerie for its delight, and he asked innocently, "What are you doing here on a day like this?"

Sybella swore fabulously in her head, but didn't let a whisper of conflict appear on her face. "Enjoying the sunrise, of course." It was an inane answer, one that meant hardly anything at all. She could see the irritation in his eyes, and her smile became more genuine for it.

Her heart was pounding however. Had he been sent to spy on her? And would her goings be reported to the Headmistress or to her father? Surely one was better than the other.

His eyes narrowed, and she sensed true danger coming. Her finger itched for her pocket, where she kept her pocket knife. But the ugly giant abruptly came forward and said loudly, "We're going to get breakfast."

The crow raised his eyebrows, clearly disbelieving. "Truly."

Sybella didn't even hesitate. She flashed him a brilliant smile. "I'm sure the Headmistress has not forbidden that I make friends now, has she?"

From his expression, he'd love dearly to argue with her. But even he must admit that she was allowed to keep her own company. Without waiting to see if he'd find some way to further detain her, Sybella looped her arm around the giant's and walked in the opposite direction. To her surprise, he squeezed her arm slightly and began steering her in a different direction, his grip reassuringly firm.

As soon as they were out of sight, however, she wrenched her arm away and shifted her gaze to him. "I was fine."

He laughed aloud. "You are a strange girl."

Their eyes met, and Sybella relaxed at the genuine amiability there. For all that his visage was frightening, he seemed gentle. Besides, he seemed to know where he was going.

"Sybella, right?"

She nodded and nibbled her lower lip, wondering if she'd be able to guess his name. "And you?"

His smile was just as vicious as hers had been. "Beast."

She blinked several times, lips curling into her own smile. "I see." And she did. His name fit him, although she was certain it wasn't his birthname.

He looked slyly at her. "Shall we get breakfast?"

She decided it couldn't hurt. "And coffee."

He took her arm again and started walking. Unsure if she should act impressed or annoyed at his boldness, Sybella let herself be tugged along.

The coffee shop was called The Page, and it was charmingly medieval themed. Beast ordered a latte with extra milk and a blueberry scone. She ordered the blackest coffee she could and a chocolate croissant.

Holding their food, the two teenagers looked around. "Outside?" Beast asked.

Sybella nodded decisively. "Outside."

Soon they were both sitting outside, nursing their cups of coffee and watching as the downtown street slowly came alive as the morning waned on. After a comfortable silence, Beast asked, "Who was that boy?"

Sybella huffed slightly. She couldn't tell why he was asking; his tone suggested only mild interest, but there was a hint of something else in his eyes. Jealousy? Hope? Anger? "He's nothing." She ripped a piece of her croissant off and put it in her mouth. The chocolate was sweet and the dough flaky, exactly the way she liked it. "I suspect he's spying on me to report my whereabouts to my school's headmistress."

His eyebrows went up. "You must go to a bizarre school."

She looked at him without flinching. "The Academy of St Mortain."

His eyebrows went even further up, and a low whistle escaped his lips. His lips looked warm and soft, full enough to kiss. She shook her head slightly, wondering why on earth she'd thought of such a thing. Beast said, "Your school is practically legend among us poor public schools." While his words were intended as a joke, there was a hint of truth in his words.

Sybella shook her head. She'd heard as much from Ismae, who'd only transferred in several years ago. "It's not worth the gossip," she said firmly, "It's just a school for girls." Admittedly, none of the girls at the school were exactly normal. But it was still just a school, and the girls were still just girls.

"They say you store bodies up there," he said bluntly. Her head snapped up, but his eyes were glittering with mischief. His eyes were strangely pretty, two jewels set in a disastrously ugly body.

"Of course not!" She brushed her hair over her shoulders. "Although by the end of this semester, I might well be a body." He tilted his head and she added, "I'm failing half my classes and my father will be less than pleased." Technically not a lie. He'd be more upset that she'd made genuine friends than anything else.

Beast's brow furrowed in concern, and she quickly brushed it off.

"I'm joking, stupid."

He shrugged, relenting, but his eyes were still sharp. "Why aren't you in school, then?" He fished his phone from his pocket — an iPhone, but a generation old — to check the time. "Or does it not start at eight?"

"It does," she admitted, baring her teeth in another smile. "I'm suspended."

Again, she'd managed to shock him. His eyebrows shot up, and she found that she liked how expressive he was. It was a wonderful break from the carefully blank faces at the Academy.

Voice grudgingly admiring, he said, "How do you get suspended from the Academy of St Mortain? Did you murder somebody?"

Making a mental note to tell him what the Academy was really like — the most bizarre class was probably Self Defense, and everything else was very standard — Sybella shoved his shoulder. It was even less effective than walking into him had been. "I had a knife on me," she said, waiting to see if it'd shock him again.

His eyes run a quick sweep of her, traveling from her toes to the top of her head, taking in her probably-too-short-skirt and her blood-red top. "You had a knife," he repeated. "Surely such a pretty girl has good reason to carry a knife?"

Sybella received compliments almost daily from all sorts of men, and yet this particular one drew a genuine smile to her lips. "Especially when she runs into giants with even bigger blades." She wiggled her eyebrows so that he would know what she was insinuating, but he merely rolled his eyes. Again, she wasn't sure whether to be impressed or insulted. Most boys would fall over themselves begging to have sex with her. "Shouldn't you be in school too?" she asked, slightly shorter than before.

Beast either didn't notice the change in her tone or chose to ignore it. "I should. Thankfully, I am suspended as well."

It was her turn for her to raise her eyebrows. "For being so ugly?"

He laughed, and she was unable to help smiling as well. His was the sort of laugh that was loud and booming and almost overwhelming in its genuineness. Other people turned to look, and Sybella ducked her head, unsure how she felt about being seen with an individual as light as Beast. She was darkness, from her hair to her soul to the coffee she drank. But Beast — for all his ugliness — was something beautifully pure.

"If only!" he declared, still grinning slightly, "But no. I got into a fight."

She nodded, taking in his bruises and cuts with a new light. "Perhaps you do need a knife."

"I have one," he assured her, and she was unsure if he was talking about the joke she'd made earlier or a real knife.

Either way, she leaned forwards and curved her lips into a mischievous smile, her eyes glittering darkly. "Perhaps I could show you how better to use it."

For the first time, she saw a hint of a blush in his cheeks, an uneven swath of red that somehow made him look rather charming. "I'm not sure you'd be able to keep up."

She tilted her head so that she could look up at him through her eyelashes and blink sultrily. "Somehow I think I'd be the one setting the pace."

He leaned forwards and she thought, for one wild second, that he was going to kiss her. Her heartbeat sped up to a rapid thrumming in her eyes and she parted her lips slightly in preparation, but he only stole the rest of her croissant and sat back to eat it smugly.

She scowled at him just for show; if anything, she was thrilled. She'd never met anybody who could match her blow for blow, much less somebody as willing to befriend her. "Did you at least win?"

He frowned, puzzled.

"Your fight."

His face split into a wide smile, and she saw that there was a gap between his two front teeth. "Of course I won."

She couldn't help smiling at the assuredness in his answer, as if there wasn't any way he couldn't have won. Damn. She really had to stop smiling so much. He might think that she was friendly. Again, she punched his shoulder. "I could beat you." The words came from her mouth of their own volition, and it was all she could do to not take them back.

The look on his face was strange, and he gestured to himself. "You. Against me."

Her grin was cocky and daring, not the soft, silly thing it had been mere moments ago. "Do you doubt me?"

Beast thought for a second. "No." His answer surprised her, and she looked at him with new eyes. "After all, you got suspended from a school rumored to teach their students how to dispose of corpses."

Sybella snorted. "Someday I will have to tell you what it's really like."

His expression warmed. "So we are going to see each other again?"

Sybella stood up, as her coffee was finished and she had to start walking if she was going to see her sisters today. "Of course. You can't get rid of me that easily."

He caught her wrist as she turned to go, his hold surprisingly gentle for such a large hand. She turned, one brow raised. Expression serious, he said, "Give me your phone number."

"I can't," Sybella replied, marveling at how the warmth in his hands seemed to spread throughout her entire body, "My father monitors everything I receive."

Again, his brow furrowed with concern. "How can I contact you?"

Her reply was heavy with sarcasm. "By carrier pigeon."

He opened his mouth to protest it and, without even aware she was doing it, Sybella closed the distance between them and silenced him with a kiss. The action shocked her just as much as him, and the first couple seconds were tense and stiff. She moved to pull away, but found Beast's arms encircling her.

She wasn't sure who deepened the kiss, but soon the two of them were hopelessly entwined, his broad hands thumbing her hair from her face and her tongue brushing through his lips and his teeth light against hers. His lips were stupidly soft and wonderfully welcoming. They tasted like chocolate.

When they finally pulled apart, both of them were out of breath, Sybella's heart thunderously loud in her ears.

She'd been kissed before, but it'd never felt as exhilarating as this. Smiling broadly, she kissed him again. "I'll see you soon," she murmured.

She felt his lips twitch and she pulled away to see the confusion on his face. "Do you have to go?"

"Yes, but I'll send you a message." She turned to go, cheeks still flush with giddiness.

As she was walking away, she heard him call, "I'll be waiting!"

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