Her retort made him grin, and he glanced up at the ceiling as he mumbled to himself, "Oh, it can be very hard, princess. If I have to suffer, so can you." It was a petty and childish mindset, and he knew it, but he couldn't find it in him to shake it. Maybe if they were both miserable enough, their parents would break this off.
"Hayden!" He looked back when Elissa called after him, and found her running down the hall. "Why do you not like Irene?" She asked quietly when she reached him, looking sad and a touch confused.
Letting out a heavy breath, the prince debated for a moment before settling on an answer. "I just don't know her very well yet," he said, which wasn't a lie, because Elissa always knew when he was lying. "Don't worry, okay? Why don't you go collect some books to let her borrow?" Once she was gone, he closed his eyes and ran a hand over his face, before composing himself and moving on down the hall.
When dinner time drew near, Victoria found her son lurking in the kitchen, stealing bites of food behind the cook's back as he flirted with one of the maids. Huffing out a disproving breath, she forcefully steered him out of the room and away from the food and the girl. "Hayden. I know you don't like this, but you need to control yourself." Before he could spout some elaborate argument, like she knew he would, she continued. "Why don't you go fetch Irene and bring her down to dinner?"
"What?" Hayden stared at her in surprise. "Why? Can't you just send a maid?"
"You are supposed to be getting to know her," Victoria said firmly, starting to shoo him in the right direction. "Go! And don't try anything, or you can forget your meal tonight."
Knowing that she meant it, Hayden raked a hand through his hair in exasperation, ruining the last semblance of a combing that it had held. Muttering to himself under his breath the entire way, he stalked to Irene's room and rapped loudly on the door. "You in there, princess?" He called out, making the term sound like an annoying pet name instead of a title.