Shiva looked up are rurik when he lifted her chin and blushed a little when she saw his blush and wondered if he thought of her more then a friend. "I care about you very much too Master... I... I always love being close to you and the time we spend together." she said softly blushing a bit as well smiling a little at him sweetly

Rurik then pet her gently before smiling. "I know you do Shiva, I can tell just how much you care about me. It surprises me but it's also nice." he said easily. "Well at least we got this out of the way, but we both know it isn't going to change anything. My parents are fixed on me marrying Tivia and I don't want to disappoint them." he added softly.

Shiva listened and frowned but nodded some. "I'm... I'm going to keep my eye on her while she's here... I still don't trust her... something just doesn't feel right about her to me... I hope that's okay... I just don't want you to get hurt." she explained softly hoping he didn't mind, but even if he did he would still keep an eye on the woman.

"You can do that Shiva, no problem. Just try to stay out of trouble and keep working. If she tries anything, let me know okay?" he asked and thought for a bit. He remembered how Trivia always asked about Shiva which was annoying. This meant that if she did come to visit, there was no doubt she would try to hurt Shiva when he wasn't around to see. "If she tries to hurt you, don't tell her that you'll tell me, but I do want you to tell me so that I can put a stop to it." he explained.

"Yes of course Master" Shiva smiled softly before hesitating for a moment then hugged Rurik purring a little as she did so hoping he didn't mind, it always made her really happy to hug him, she just loved the closeness

Rurik hugged her back easily and pet her a bit. "Alright then, off to work with you unless you have something else you'd like to talk to me about." Rurik said and smiled. "If not, Sylph wants to go outside to play so I think I'll go play with him while I wait for dinner. If anything comes up you know where to find me." he said and hugged her for a second before letting go and motioning for Sylph to follow him out.

"No that's all, just make sure you tell me when you're thirst again... oh did you need fresh bandages on your scars?" Shiva asked as she stepped away after nuzzling him a little and smiled some at him

"I haven't worn bandages in a very long time actually. My sister and Syrma think it's best that I don't wear bandages, I don't know why." Rurik said and thought for a bit. "I think it would be best to wear bandages though, so if you don't mind Shiva, I'd like to wear bandages again." he said wit a smile.

"They probably want it to dry out... but I know you itch, and if you itch them they can't heal." Shiva pointed out with a grin. "You just have to let them air out every now and then until they're fully healed, like let them dry after you take a shower and leave the bandages off for like half an hour after you change them" she explained softly before nodding and went into his bathroom where she had put the supplies before and pulled them out blushing a little to herself as she worked knowing he would have to take his shirt off again.

"Hey I can't help it if they itch. If something itches I scratch, it is a normal reaction. Even if I don't want to, I have to." Rurik explained as he closed the door and took off his shirt again, neatly placing it on the bed after sitting down and waiting for her. Rurik knew that if his parents walked in they would probably think something else was going on, it would be embarrassing having to explain it to them.

Shiva shook her head a little before moving to the table where she had placed the items and moved back over with a bit of alcohol on a cotton ball to clean the scars a bit not noticing the faint sound of someone walking down the hall or how awkward this might look to someone else if they saw her so close to him and leaning over a bit in front of him.

Rurik winced slightly as Shiva did this and stared at the door, hoping that no one came in. Irsa was walking up the stairs towards Rurik's room to talk to him. She wanted to know what he thought about Tivia, and if he was already planning for the wedding. When she reached his room, she knocked once and barged right in gasping at what she saw. "RURIK!" she cried out and narrowed her eyes in anger. "What's the meaning of this!" she hissed. When he saw his mother walk in, Rurik quickly stood up and then realized that it only made it look worse. "Mother this isn't what you're thinking." he started. "Of course it is! I cannot believe after wanting to marry a princess, you end up doing this! And with your servant! Is this what you do when you call her into your room!" she cried. "Mother no! I can't believe you would think that! Shiva is only tending to my scars, nothing more. The reason she is here is because we had to talk about something and now she's doing this. Every other time she was here was because I was feeding off of her, or we were talking." Rurik explained. Irsa sighed slightly and rubbed her forehead. "So you feel nothing for your servant? Nothing at all? You don't love her right?" Irsa asked. Rurik blushed brightly and looked down at Shiva. How was he supposed to answer that? He couldn't lie to his mother, but if he told her the truth she would probably be very upset with him.

Shiva jumped in surprise giving a little yelp as she heard the queens angry voice and turned around the alcohol soaked cotton ball clearly visible in her hand. She blushed brightly in shock at what his mother thought they were doing and looked at Rurik after throwing away the cotton ball her cheeks slowly cooling before she looked away and down to the first aid kit to get out the bandages and a fresh cotton ball since she had to get his other scars after she patched up the ones she had cleaned. She knew that he shouldn't say anything... but... that hurt her at the same time, it made her very sad.

"Does it matter if I love her or not?" Rurik started and sat back down to let Shiva continue what she was doing. "Mother, you and father both know that I am to marry Trivia, and so I will." he answered. "Yes, we both know it but I don't think that you do. I want you downstairs in the study right away, I want both your father and I to have a word with you." Irsa said strictly before quickly leaving downstairs to the study where she informed Atros on what had just happened. "I'm starting to think that there's something Rurik isn't telling us." she said.

Shiva blushed a little at his comment wondering if he really did love her or if he was just asking if it would matter but went back to fixing him up finishing cleaning his burns and then bandaged him carefully so he wouldn't cause any of his wounds to open while he scratched them. "There you go, if you take a shower just tell me once you've dried off or are ready to put new ones on so you don't itch them" Shiva said then looked at Rurik softly feeling like she should apologize but she hadn't done anything wrong so she knew she shouldn't.

Rurik frowned and nodded then motioned at Sylph to follow him down to the grand hall where Jamil was busy sweeping. "Jamil, I promised to spend time with Sylph outside by my parents want me in the study so I'm afraid I won't be able to spend time with him as I planned." Rurik started. Jamil smiled and nodded. "Understandable my lord. I will go play with Sylph outside right away." Jamil explained and motioned for Sylph to follow him as he left to put away the broom and throw out the dust. Rurik thanked him and then left to the study then knocked on the door and entered to see his parents waiting for him.

Shiva went off to do her work hoping that everything would be okay and that Rurik wouldn't get in trouble or anything. She blushed as she thought about how he asked if it would matter and couldn't help but feel that he wasn't telling her something.

"Your mother told me what happened. Is there something you aren't telling us?" Atros asked. "It doesn't matter father. I will marry Tivia as was stated before. Besides, she seems like a nice girl, very lovely." Rurik replied. Both Irsa and Atros stared at each other for a while before looking back at Rurik. "Are you sure this is what you truly want?" asked Irsa. "Of course it's not!" Rurik thought to himself and nodded. "Why would I be doing this if I didn't want to?" he asked. "To make your mother and I happy." answered Atros. "If I married a commoner...it is not something a prince is supposed to do." Rurik commented. Both Atros and Irsa knew this very well but they didn't want their only son to be depressed his entire life.

Shiva continued to work trying not to think about Rurik right now... it would only distract her and upset her after all but it felt like all she could think about was being close to him.

"Well yes that is very true Rurik, but we don't want you to do something and then regret it." Irsa explained. "I know." Rurik replied and frowned, he didn't know what to do or say now. "Tell us what is troubling you Rurik." Atros said softly as he looked at his son."What if I don't love Tivia or any of her cousins?" he asked. "Well then you don't have to marry them. We can look elsewhere for a bride that you'll love." Atros replied easily. "What if we don't find one? What would you do if I did fall in love with a commoner?" Rurik asked. Atros thought about this before answering, "There has to be someone of high class out there that you love. If you do fall in love with a commoner, well I don't know what we would do about that. We will cross that bridge if we ever get there." Atros answered. "Do you not love Tivia?" asked Irsa. "I don't know her too well. I guess we'll see what happens." Rurik said.