Lissa was forced out of Kate's mind, most likely because she also woke up, but it was so fast that it made Lissa a bit dizzy. Despite wanting to be annoyed with Kate, Lissa knew that there was nothing that she could do or say to have Kate change her ways.

Knowing that her cousin would be knocking on her door soon, the blonde Princess slipped out of her bed with an ache that was slowly dissipating, her feet carrying her to her ensuite bathroom that she shared with Natalie, although they each had their seperate dorms, but they did share a living room like space.

After a warm shower that completely shooed away any ache that was troubling her and getting dressed in her uniform, the blonde Princess was packing her backpack when a knock came from the door, she knew that it wasn't Kate because she didn't feel her powerful aura seeping into her so she could only deduct it was either her cousin or a Guardian.

"Come in." was the only thing that left her lips before the door opened, the answer to her deduction came bouncing in like a fairy on crack, her cousin looked like she had either overfed or been in the sun for too long causing her to be hyperactive.

"Morning Liss, ready to go to the feeders?" Natalie inquires speedily. The thought of feeding made Lissa sick to her stomach, she'd gotten so used to her and Kate's feeding schedules that the ones provided by the school messed with her.

"I drank too much last night at dinner, I think I'll feed later today, maybe after second period." She excused, a normal Moroi would have pressed on the matter but thankfully for the Princess, Natalie was not your normal Moroi.

"Okay, let's go then, I've already fed so I don't have to, we can head straight to class." Natalie claimed as she began to turn back to the door, not waiting for Lissa to follow.

The blonde scratched Oscar's head before following her cousin out of their dorm and closing the door behind her. In this precise moment half of her wished that Kate had used her gift and gotten them away from the Guardians back in Portland. The two of them on the run, Kate's expertise in learning new Languages quickly giving them a quick escape out of many places.

But she knew that if Kate had used her gift that she would be hunted down like a dog and sent to a research facility.

Lissa followed Natalie to class, her hair loose and in it's natural wavy state just past her shoulders, people looked at her and commented, a natural occurrence, but instead of keeping her head low like she usually would the blonde Princess kept her head high and sent a sharp glare at each and every person.

Natalie was gibbering about something that Lissa had definitely missed while she was away but Lissa had tuned her out, she couldn't help it, it just didn't interest her.

Then once seated, she was allowed to let her guard down, opening her textbook and scribbling the date and the summary that was already on the board, Natalie had thankfully wandered off to go talk with her friends, and while the Old Lissa would have found this nerve-wracking, this Lissa was actually very thankful, that was of course, until she had Jesse Zeklos sit in front of her and turn to her.

"So, Princess..." Jesse drawled, his blue eyes scanning the blonde Princess before him, "Any chance you can let your hot novice come to my party tonight?" Lissa rolled her eyes at him and continued to write.

"She's her own person Zeklos, I don't own her." she muttered.

"Yeah, yeah. Can't you order her to come, I'd appreciate it very much." the platinum-haired bad boy pressed, going as far as giving her his panty-dropping pout, which had absolutely no effect on Lissa.

"I can ask her to kick your ass, but then again she'd do it on her own free will herself if she were here right now." Lissa rebutted, her jade eyes glaring daggers onto the boy before her in anger.

Jesse opened his mouth once more to comment but was stopped when Christian Ozera appeared out of the blue next to the Royal Princess saying in a nasty tone "She said Alistair is her own person, maybe you should ask her yourself instead of annoying the Princess."

Instantly, every Moroi in Jesse's group of friends, Jesse included, jumped to their feet and backed away, nasty sneers taking over their features, "I don't need advice from you Strigoi." Jesse hissed, his fangs bared as if he was going to the boy before him.

"You should, considering her novice nearly destroyed 12 novices with no Dhampir training what so ever." Christian smirked, rather enjoying that everyone stayed away from him because they feared him.

Jesse and his group scattered away which  allowed Christian to sit next to Lissa, receiving her honest and thankful smile as he did. "You didn't have to do that." the blonde told him to which Christian shrugged at her with a small smirk that had her rolling her eyes in return.

"How did you know about Kate's ass whopping in the Dhampir's class?" Lissa quizzed curiously once everyone had settled around them.

"It's one of the things that the students of the Academy are talking about the most. That and your return, along with the current gossip." Christian chuckled, his tone explained that these news were literally coming out of everyone's lips.

Lissa frowned slightly but nodded, she'd been so busy trying to avoid people and the rumour mill that she knew was going about, that she completely missed out on the talk about Kate's abilities, abilities that Lissa knew were amazing and attention grabbing, especially with the fact that she had no Dhampir training growing up.

Although, now she was curious about what everyone in the Academy was saying about Kate, but for her to do that she had to either talk to the popular kids, which Kate's ultimatum said not to, or have Natalie rant about for hours.

"Do you want me to relay any gossip about Kate to you?" Christian asked, almost as if he was reading Lissa's mind, which had the blonde blushing and pushing her hair behind her ear.

"Would that mean that I'm welcome to return to the chapel attic at anytime?" Lissa questioned in an almost flirty tone. This time it was Christian's turn to blush, and as he did so, he looked away from the blonde Princess next to him.

"If you don't mind spending time with a Strigoi." He countered, almost matching her tone, even if he kept his eyes away from Lissa's face.

"I already spend time with one killing machine, what's another?" Lissa teased, no harm or ill intent in her words, which still surprised Christian, to the point that he couldn't help but chuckle at her words while shaking his head.

Meanwhile, in the gym, Kate's eyes opened slowly, adjusting to the light that shun directly above her from the lamp on the gym ceiling.

"Sleeping is in your room." Mason's voice echoed in the empty gym making Kate flip him off without looking at him, his chuckle echoed as well as he neared her. "What kept you up?" Mason questioned as he pushed himself onto the beam next to her, sitting near her head.

"Lissa needed me." Kate confessed, sitting up and swinging her legs onto the opposite side that Mason had his, stretching her aching arms above her head.

"For what?" the Dhampir boy frowned, reminding the brunette girl that he wasn't in on their secret.

"Bad nightmare and couldn't go back to sleep." she replied instead, while it wasn't completely lying it wasn't completely telling the truth either.

"That sucks." The boy muttered making her shrug. She was used to it, she actually enjoyed helping Lissa, it made her feel needed and of actual use, she knew that Lissa wouldn't heal completely and she was fine with it.

"Well, Belikov sent me ahead to start training with you seeing as his round at the gate today was not yet changed." Mason told her, his eyes moving to her figure assessing her, "We can always not do anything and lie to Belikov."

Kate smirked at his offer while she slipped off the beam, "He'd kill us both for lying." her words made Mason sit still for a moment as several scenarios crossed his mind, none of them necessarily depicting a pretty death, allowing a "You're right." to leave his lips in the form of a mumble.

To say that Dimitri Belikov, upon his late arrival at the gym, was surprised to find both Kate and Mason actually training with dummies instead of sitting on the bench and getting ready to lie right to his face was an understatement, he was so utterly sure that that was what was going to happen he couldn't help but stand by the door of the gym with a shocked look on his face.

He knew how Mason fought, he'd been teaching him since the moment he got placed at the Academy, but he has had only a few sessions with Kate yet she fought like she's been doing it all her life, she may have the technique a bit wrong but her movements were fluid and precise.

He knew that when given the opportunity all the novices would sit on the benches and not do what they were told, he knew that Mason was like that most of the times, but Kate didn't seem to be.

And that was something that intrigued him beyond belief, she'd killed 6 Strigois without even thinking that it could kill her, or perhaps she did but her friendship with the Princess made her death much more insignificant if she couldn't protect her.

Kate's eyes flashed to him after a few minutes of him just standing here, her forest green clashing with his chocolate orbs, almost challenging, but she didn't act on the challenge.

Instead, she turned back to the ginger boy and muttered something to him, something that Dimitri couldn't hear, then the said boy turned to him, whirling around so fast Kate's lips parted into an amused smile while she shook her head.

A smile that had Dimitri seeing the teenage Kate that she should be, instead of the killing machine she was trying to become.

"Guardian Belikov." Mason greeted, a light blush covering his cheeks.

"Novices." Dimitri replied politely, giving them a nod, "You've been training." he noted, watching as Mason nodded vigorously and Kate merely shrugged, he could see the small sweat that both of them had covering them, it indicated such.

"Well," he began, trying to think of another exercise for them to complete before class, he had planned many considering he had believed that they had slacked, but upon being proven wrong his mind when surprisingly blank, "do the routine that the others will do when they arrive and do them with them as well." his voice was strong although a bit of doubt could be heard in it.

Mason's eye twitched at his teacher's words, his jaw slightly slacking as the older man turned away from them, "You'll start drooling if you keep staring." Kate hush commented to the ginger, her forest-green eyes flickering from the Russian Cowboy to the novice beside her.

"He's trying to kill us." Mason whispered, finally moving his eyes to meet Kate's.

"No. He's making sure that we survive out of the gates." Kate countered, her slender fingers pulling her hair tie from her hair so she could make a new and tighter ponytail.

"Killing us." Mason insisted, turning his body a whole 90º angle so he was facing the brunette.

"Alistair." Dimitri then called out, not once turning around to face the duo.

After sharing a short glance with Mason, Kate jogged to where the older Guardian had placed himself, corner of the room atop a platform that allowed him to have a clear view of the entire gym, almost like an eagle perched up in it's nest surveying the grounds.

His dark eyes slowly moved from the ginger Novice to the brunette one that came to a stop next to him, she looked like a soldier ready to receive orders, her posture stiff yet seemingly relaxed, her hands behind her back and her feet apart, same distance as her shoulder .

"Was Vasilisa in any danger?" Dimtri asked without specifying to what he was asking about, he didn't need to, and Kate didn't question it either, instead she looked him in the eyes and kept quiet, it was a clear answer.

Of course, Lissa hadn't been in any danger, neither she, nor the Princess would still be there if she had been.

Understanding that he wasn't going to get an answer he questioned instead "What are your religious beliefs?" it wasn't that Dimitri was truly interested in them, but he'd been ordered to ask her, and like a good soldier, he was doing his duty.

"I go to church. There is God. I pray that my family is safe in heaven."

It wasn't a proper answer, but it was an answer, and Dimitri was going to take it, "Word has been sent to the Queen informing her of your kill," He explained to her, his dark eyes moving back to Mason who was still doing the lunges that they had been ordered to do, "Normally a reply wouldn't have been issued within such short notice, but considering that you saved the Princess, the Queen has ordered you to get marked this Sunday after Church."

A plethora of feelings bloomed in Kate's chest, pride, happiness, confusion, fear and sadness.

She was proud that someone had actually not berated her for being stupid when she stepped out of the car, ready to lay down her life for the Princess. Happiness because she knew that this was a good thing. Confusion because she knew that no novice got marked without first graduating. Fear because this would mean that she wasn't as human as she was led to believe her whole life. And sadness because no one other than Lissa was there to celebrate with her.

However, although she had this plethora of feelings in her chest, the only one she demonstrated was confusion, which was the reason behind her "I thought only graduated Guardians got marked." statement.

A seeming ghost smile etched on Dimitri's lips, something that was unheard of at the Academy, although less so since Kate's arrival, "No Novice has killed a Strigoi and lived to tell the tale." he rebutted.

"When you spoke of the Queen, I thought she'd have my head served to her on a platter, but instead I'm being rewarded for my, what was it you and Kirova called it recklessness." Kate exclaimed, confusion long gone from her voice, annoyance now cloaking it, causing Dimitri to look back at her.

Her face was void of emotion, as were her eyes, a perfect Guardian face as everyone called it, to be able to void one's features and body of anything that could give away their true feelings.

It amused the older man that a person with so little experience with this supernatural world and with life in general was able to act more mature than grown men that were born and bred into this life.

This, along with her bond with the Princess, were the things that made her the perfect candidate for main Guardian and near Guard for the Princess, the experience she lacked was something that he knew within a couple of months she would have.

Yet contrasting the Guardian that already existed, she had first-hand knowledge of the world outside, how people acted and moved and thought, how the reacted to certain things, she was simply the perfect Guardian. But neither he, nor anyone would tell Kate that, they didn't want those words to go to her head and have her discredit everything she was working for.

"Had you survived and the Princess died, the Queen would have your head on a platter being served to her in this precise moment." Dimitri stated, not missing how at the mention of the possibility of the Princess being dead and Kate being alive seemed to pain the Novice too much, her mask faltering enough for him to see that.

A feeling that Dimitri seconded and felt all too well.

"I would rather die than have Lissa die on my watch." Kate hissed, his eyes narrowing slightly at the older man.

"Good." Dimitri replied, smiling openly and honestly at Kate's hostility to his statement, "You've been informed of what is to happen this Sunday. Wear a top, we can't have something scratching against your nape before, during or after your marking." he concluded, turning back to the ginger.