Chapter 26: Four New Names

"What’s Mechatronics?"

Hazel’s forehead was wrinkled from confusion, and she blinked at Kyler, who blinked back at her.

Becky face-palmed herself from somewhere in front of them. "For goddess sake, Kyler. Go easy on her, she’s not so familiar with the terms."

Kyler laughed nervously, slightly inclining his head. "Sorry about that, your Majesty."

Hazel waved him off. "It’s alright, haha."

Scarlett and Imogen chuckled behind her, and the group resumed their walk, weaving down one of the sprawling stone paths that cut through the heart of the campus. Kyler had taken it upon himself to list off nearly every course the university offered, and Hazel had nodded along politely for the first ten minutes before quietly admitting defeat.

I should have brought the dictionary.

She had left it in the library, which in hindsight, was a terrible decision.

"So," Scarlett said, sidling up beside her with a mischievous glint in her eye. "Is there any one you like so far?"

Hazel blinked. "Like?"

"You know," Imogen chimed in, nodding eagerly. "A course. Is there anything that’s caught your interest so far?"

Oh. A course.

Hazel felt her cheeks warm slightly at her own misunderstanding, grateful neither girl seemed to notice. She thought back over everything Kyler had rattled off, the engineering halls, the towering science wing, the business college with its glass walls and immaculate lawns.

None of it had stuck.

Except for one thing.

"I think," she said slowly, turning the word over in her mind before committing to it, "I like Psychology."

Scarlett’s face lit up instantly, and she spun toward Imogen, palm raised.

"Yesssss!"

Imogen slapped her hand against it with a delighted squeal. "You’ll be our junior!"

"That’s great," Kyler said, grinning as he fell back into step beside her. "The psychology department is this way, actually. Come on."

They rounded a corner, and Hazel’s breath caught.

The building ahead of them was unlike anything she had seen so far on campus, ivy climbing up warm brick walls, tall arched windows framed in white stone, and a courtyard dotted with wooden benches beneath the shade of old oak trees.

"It’s so beautiful," she breathed.

"Right?" Scarlett beamed. "Just wait till you see the lecture halls inside."

Just then, the doors swung open, and a woman stepped out, phone pressed to her ear, her voice carrying across the courtyard in a rapid, slightly frazzled stream of words. She had soft black waves pulled into a loose bun, streaks of chalk dust on her sleeve, and an armful of folders she was somehow managing not to drop despite gesturing wildly with her free hand.

Uh? Who’s that?

Scarlett leaned in, lowering her voice to a whisper. "That’s who we call Clumsy Veronica. Amazing lecturer, but she trips over literally everything. Once dropped an entire tray of test tubes down the stairwell."

"They weren’t even her test tubes," Imogen added solemnly.

Before Hazel could respond, Veronica’s eyes landed on their group, and she froze mid-sentence, the phone slipping slightly from her grip before she caught it against her shoulder.

"I’ll call you back," she said quickly into the receiver, hanging up without waiting for a reply. Her gaze had locked onto Hazel, and her professional composure snapped into place almost instantly.

"Your Majesty!" She dropped into a hurried, slightly lopsided curtsy, nearly losing her grip on the folders in the process. "I wasn’t informed you’d be visiting today, forgive me, I would have tidied up the office, and I—"

"Hello," Hazel said, offering her an awkward little wave, unsure of the proper response to someone practically shaking with nerves in front of her.

Becky stepped forward smoothly, sparing Veronica any further spiraling. "The Queen is interested in becoming a student here, Veronica. Psychology, specifically."

Veronica’s eyes went round. "Oh, that’s wonderful news! Truly, it would be an honor to have you in the department, Your Majesty. Let me just—" She fumbled through one of her folders one-handed, finally producing a slim admission packet, and launched into a rapid explanation of course requirements, credit hours, and elective options, most of which sailed straight over Hazel’s head despite her best efforts to follow along.

"We’ll also need a formal registration form, but given your circumstances, I imagine the Dean will want to expedite things," Veronica continued, scribbling something onto the packet before handing it to Hazel. "You’ll be exempt from the entrance examination, of course."

"Of course," Hazel echoed, though she had no idea what an entrance examination even entailed.

"I’ll attend a few classes first," Hazel said, glancing at Becky for reassurance, "just to see how it feels. If that’s alright."

"Of course, of course!" Veronica nodded so enthusiastically her bun nearly came undone. "Whenever you’re ready, Your Majesty. I look forward to seeing you in my classes."

Hazel found herself smiling. "Thank you."

They exchanged a few more pleasantries before Kyler gently ushered the group back toward the courtyard entrance, Veronica waving after them until she nearly collided with the doorframe on her way back inside.

Hazel laughed softly under her breath.

I could actually like it here.

"This was nice," she said once they were back outside, the afternoon sun warm against her face.

Becky smirked. "Told you so."

"If I’m not being too forward," Kyler said, rubbing the back of his neck, "could we get your number? So we can text, if you ever have questions about classes or anything."

Hazel blinked. "Oh. How does this work?"

Becky grinned, already pulling out her own phone. "Here, give it to me, I’ll show you."

She guided Hazel’s fingers over the screen, showing her how to save a new contact. One by one, Hazel typed in Becky’s number under a fresh line, then Scarlett’s, then Imogen’s.

Kyler’s turn came last.

He held his phone out with both hands, and Hazel typed the digits he recited, slowly, one finger at a time. When she handed it back, he stared at the screen for a second too long, and then at her.

"Kyler Storm," he read aloud, grinning. "Queen’s contact number. Wow. I’m going to frame this."

"You’re going to what?" Hazel asked.

"It’s an expression," Becky said, not looking up from her own screen. "Don’t encourage him."

Scarlett snorted. Imogen elbowed Kyler in the ribs, and he yelped, laughing, which only made the back of his neck go pink again.

"Your Majesty," Kyler started again, lowering his voice as the others drifted ahead toward the car, "can I ask something else?"

Hazel hesitated. "Alright."

"How’s the King?"

The question hung between them.

"I only ask because," he continued, scratching his jaw now, apparently switching habits under pressure, "people talk. And he has the reputation of...." He trailed off, wincing, as if he had just realized what he had walked into. "Well. You know. Being...."

Terrifying. Violent. A man who rips hearts out of chests.

A man who held me until I fell asleep.

A man who called it a mistake.

Hazel swallowed.

The words were right there, sitting behind her teeth. I don’t know. He barely speaks to me. He said we should live separate lives. I don’t know what I did. It would have been so easy to say them to this stranger with the kind eyes and the glasses.

But she had been raised in Tideclaw. She knew what happened to words once they left your mouth. They didn’t stay where you put them. They got carried across a room, and then across a pack, and then across the world, until they came back to you as a weapon.

And Rosie was already out there, sniffing for cracks.

So she said nothing.

Kyler shifted his weight, glancing between her face and the ground. "I’m sorry, that was out of line. I didn’t mean to—"

"He’s fine," Hazel said.

"He’s fine," she repeated, softer. "Everything is fine."

Kyler studied her for a moment. He was a psychology student, after all. But he only nodded, and she was grateful, more than she could say, that he didn’t pull at it.

"Okay," he said gently. "I’m glad."

Everything is fine.

She said it once more in her head, like the nights in the dungeon when she had told herself the lashes were almost over.

She didn’t believe it then either.

"Hazel!" Becky called from the car, one arm slung over the open door. "Let’s go, before Conan sends a helicopter!"

Hazel turned to leave, then stopped. Before she could overthink it she looked back at the three of them standing in the golden light of the courtyard, with the ivy-covered building behind them and the afternoon spilling over the stones.

"Thank you," she said. "For everything. Today, I mean. All of it."

Kyler blinked, then smiled. "Anytime, Your Majesty."

"Hazel," she corrected quietly, and then wondered where that had come from.

His eyes widened slightly. "Hazel."

She nodded once and walked toward the car, the phone warm in her hand, four new names glowing inside it.

It was the strangest feeling she’d ever had.

And it was gone by the time the doors closed and the convoy began to roll back toward Hellington Palace, toward a husband who had said separate lives, and a bed she would be expected to share with him in two or three nights, for duty.

Hazel turned her face to the window, and said nothing at all.