Katrina

As I enter my history class, the room goes silent. It's hard not to roll my eyes as I walk through the door; I thought everyone here was at least twenty-one, it seems like the gossip mill will never stop, and here I always thought it was a grade school-only thing.

"Hi." I wave at everyone before taking my seat in the front row, staring straight ahead, waiting for the professor to enter the classroom.

Astrid, I think that's her name at least, slid into the seat next to me, the one Samael would've occupied had he been here. I glanced out my peripheral, and sure enough, she was staring right at me.

"Can I help you?" I ask, turning my attention to her, my voice sharper than I attended it to be.

"Where's Samael?" She asks, not seeming to care about the snarkiness in my tone.

"Why do you want to know?" I ask, glaring at her as jealousy rears its ugly head.

"Woah, calm down there, tiger. I don't want anything to do with Samael; if anything, I would be trying to steal you away from him." She winks, causing me to blush.

"Sorry, today's just been a bit tense. Umm...Samael had some business he needed to take care of down in the underworld," I reply cautiously.

"Damn. Okay, My name is Astrid, by the way; sorry that rude ass mate of yours hasn't introduced us yet. I was one of his intendeds, but obviously, that didn't work out." She replies, waggling her eyebrows at me, trying to keep the mood light.

"Well, you're certainly more friendly than their other intends," I reply, smiling, "Is there a reason you needed Samael?"

"I heard something interesting from my mother Hel; it has to do with the upcoming council meeting, the test..."

Astrid is interrupted by our professor walking into the classroom.

"Good Morning, Class," He states, walking into the room and tapping on the whiteboard; it is instantly filled with writing and pictures depicting succubi. If I didn't know better, I would think the professor was onto me. "What can you tell me about succubi?"

"They use their beauty to suck the souls out of innocents." One of the students in the back shouts out.

"Lilith was the Queen of the succubi," another student shouts.

"Succubi can visit you in your sleep."

When the shouting stops, the professor claps his hands giddily, "very good class, very good. All of those things are true, at least partially. Succubi don't suck the souls from people per se; they usually devour a person's aura or their lifeline. And their favorite method of doing so is having sex with someone in their dreams.

And while Lilith was a queen of the succubi, she wasn't the only Queen. Her sisters, Eiseth, Agrat Bat Mahal, and Naamah, ruled by her side. They're lesser known succubi because their powers weren't as strong as Lilith, our fallen angel. Her sisters became succubi only by seducing the former archangel Samael, who our prince of the Underworld Kingdom gets his name; Hades and Samael were very close due to Samael's visits to the three sisters after Hades took over what was formerly known as hell."

The professor's eyes dart over to me and then the seat beside me, narrowing when he realizes that Samael is not beside me, "Where is our Heir to the throne?" He asks, looking at me but not bothering to acknowledge my name.

I want to ignore the professor, but I recall Samael telling me to behave, so I shrug my shoulders before answering, "I'm not sure he said he had some business to take care of in the Underworld; who I am to question the future King." I reply, making sure to emphasize the king part.

"Ah.." the professor states, his feature showing he wasn't impressed by my response, but he doesn't push it further; instead, he continues with his lesson on succubi.

"Why Lilith has seemingly disappeared and thought to have departed her world, her sisters still live in the underworld, they've made the lowest part of Tartarus their home, and they've been known to try and lure lost souls to their nest, luckily our King and his heir seem to keep them in line. We haven't had a person succumb to the kiss of a succubus in many years now."

As the professor droned on, I tuned him out, focusing on how succubi drain their victim's powers. Is that what I was doing? Am I slowly killing my mates? Their power seems stronger than ever, but what if I'm stealing their power source, and it's only increasing in hopes of overcoming me? I want to ask the professor more about the kiss of a succubus, but I don't want to draw unwanted attention.

The bell rang, signaling the end of class, and I realized I had missed the entire remaining part of the lecture. I let out a heavy sigh; there's no way I’ll pass my history class if I keep hyper-focusing on one thing. Maybe Luka will be able to give me some insight on succubi. He might have even met my aunts during his travels through Tartarus; I wonder if it would be dangerous for me to meet them? I’ll have to discuss that with my men; it would be nice to hear more about my family history from someone who lived it.

“Katrina,” Astrid hissed, calling to me before I walked out the door, “take this,” she whispered, shoving a sealed piece of paper into my hand, “Don't open it until you're somewhere alone.”

I wanted to ask Astrid more, but she took off before I could question her. I wanted to run after her, but I ran into Miles’s warm body instead.

“Hey kitten,” he purred, wrapping his muscular arms around me, “Are you ready for our Sparring class?” He asks, taking a step back and grabbing my hand, and leading me to the gym.

“Of course I am; what other time do I get to ogle my man with his shirt off while getting a grade?”

“Your man,” he smiled as he pushed open the gym doors gesturing for me to enter first, “I like the sound of that.”

“Good, because that's what you are, Miles; you're all mine.”

My prince to the Earth kingdom pulls me in tight and plants a long heated kiss on my mouth, only pulling back when the professor clears her throat. Peaking past Miles’s large frame, I see that she looks unimpressed and agitated.

“Hurry and change,” she states, her tone sharp, “we have no time for horseplay.”

“Geeze, Herja, who pissed in your cheerios this morning?” Miles asks, teasing the professor.

“I don't care who you are, Miles, heir to the Earth Kingdom or not, you’ll talk to me as if I am your superior,” she replies, her tone haughty, nothing like it was in our first class.

Miles rolls his eyes but doesn't say anything as he leads me to the changing rooms, “What’s up with her?” I ask in a hushed tone.

“The same thing that's wrong with every woman in this Academy kitten, you. They're all jealous of you. We've completed our mate bond, meaning myself and the rest of the heirs are officially off the market. Herja and I have history; when I was with her, I explained that what we had would go no further than fucking, but it seems like she caught feelings or at least hopes that I would change my mind and make her my Queen.”

I glare at him wanting to know more about this history between him and our PROFESSOR, but we've already reached the locker room doors, and Herja hasn't stopped glaring daggers at me.

“Five minutes.” Miles hollers as I enter the locker room, the door swinging wide in front of me, “if you aren't out here in five, I'm coming in there to get you.”

I chuckle at the overprotective asshole and walk to my locker, happy to see Gertrude standing by her locker, changing for class.

“You look oddly peppy for sparring class.” Gertrude states as I open my locker door, having already stripped off my school uniform.

“Just happy to see a friendly face,” I reply, jumping into my Spanx before struggling to put my sports bra on.

“Damn girl, your tits look like they’ve doubled in size,” Gertrude states, watching me desperately trying to fit into my too-tight sports bra.

“Here, try mine.” Gertrude states tossing her spare bra at me, it's still a little snug, but it slips on easily enough.

“If those melons are a side effect of mating, I don't ever want to find my mate,” she states teasingly, leading the way out of the locker room.

We laugh even harder when we collide with Miles, who had half a foot in the locker room, making good on his threat from earlier.

“I told you five min...” he begins to lecture me but then loses his train of thought as his eyes run up and down my body, “Holy Heaven All-Mighty, Kitten.” He preaches, his eyes doing a double-take, “When did this happen?” He asks, waving his hands at my body, “I saw your tits before breakfast, and they looked nothing like this.”

“And that, ladies and gents is my cue to go,” Gertrude states, excusing herself before running down to where Professor Herja and the rest of the class were waiting.

“I don't know,” I mumble, picking up my pace to join the class when Herja’s venomous eyes stare me down; professor or not; I don't want to be on a Valkyrie’s bad side.

My mind swirls back to the succubi’s kiss; could my body’s sexual attributes have been enhanced due to me draining Aphelion’s powers this morning. I don't get much time to contemplate why my breast and as have grown as Herja’s voice booms out, calling my name and Hilda’s.

“Katrina, Hilda. You’ll be sparring with each other today. I can't have Katrina fail her midterm because her mate,” she snarls the word, “is too easy on her.”

“I’ll gladly help Katrina out.” Hilda smiles wickedly.

Good. I can't wait to take this bitch down a notch or two. Herja may think Miles goes easy on me, but we've been training regularly; I can't wait to put Hilda in her place.

**AUTHOR’s NOTE**
***Now that I’m finished with the Vampire King’s Slave Mate, I plan on updating Divine Academy more frequently (the past 2 days I’ve added 4
chapters, approximately 6,000 words) and I hope to be able to keep up that pace ❤ Thank you all for your kind words and support. You are all amazing ,wonderful, and kind. I was nervous to read through the comments after posting about my manic depression and the slow updates, but you’ve all been so understanding and supportive through it all. I am incredibly lucky to have all of you! So once again, thank you! xoxo Marriah***