<span style="font-weight: bold">â€œIro... if I catch you using such a ridiculous word for a person in my house... I shall ring your neck... am I understood?â€</span><br/><br/>â€œYes, Mistress,â€ he purred at her, contently laying his head against her leg. It only meant that she loved him best. The threats, the painâ€¦ it all meant â€˜I love youâ€™ to Iro. And she told him so sweetly, pet him so soothingly. He wanted so much to have been quick enough to lick the blood away himself. The lady shouldnâ€™t have to do anything for herself unless she wanted, and he would gladly have taken the punishment for that presumption. His longing was not disguised; begging for scraps, it was.<br/><br/>He watched Master Erik mildly as he touched the Mistress, a small hint of longing for the vampire to touch him too creeping into the expression. Iro loved Master Erik; not so much as he loved his Mistress, but still very much. But Master Erik could not pet him so perfectly, nor threaten him so warmly.<br/><br/>However, the Mistress told him to draw her bath, and that was precisely what Iro would do. He unwound himself from his place at her feet, brushed the strip of black linen that served as his only clothing modestly into order, and took one of his Mistressâ€™s hands into both of his larger, naturally black nailed ones. He kissed the back and then the palm, but was carefully silent. After all, he didnâ€™t want to interrupt her.<br/><br/>He went quickly to the Mistressâ€™s own, private washroom. He filled a basin with warm water and the favorite scent for her hair, so it wouldnâ€™t mix with her bathing water. This he set at the end where sheâ€™d always liked to rest her head. He filled her bath with very hot water, adding the scented oils sheâ€™d always liked for her skin. Then Iro waited, drifting over to the window to make faces at nasty olâ€™ Ivan while he did the filthy outdoor work. Iroâ€¦ he was a house pet, through and through. Never even left the house proper anymore if he could help it.<br/><br/>Oh he hoped it would be him to get the privilege of helping the Mistress to bathe today! Not one of those others. Iro didnâ€™t think they deserved it. They probably didnâ€™t even want to, and he did so very much.