Rich Boy: Growing Pains - 4. Chapter 4

His ‘students' filed out of the basement and up the stairs as if they were exhausted. Even as he let the link with Brandon drop, Worthington was forced to admit he was beyond mere exhaustion himself. Given a choice, he'd go directly to bed and stay there until sunrise tomorrow. That was not possible though, because Byron Jones was standing nearby and made no effort to leave.

"You are a capable teacher." He said slowly as Worthington stared at him. "Your Channel has fallen asleep though."

"He will wake when he's ready." Worthington shrugged. Brandon had passed out from exhaustion a half-hour ago, while Worthington still pulled more magic from him in dribbles as it became available. Teaching so many students at once was too draining. He'd have to do it in sessions with two or three at a time, and maybe have Jamie help as well.

"I am to discontinue our lessons in magic, between you and I, and your brother." Byron Jones said, dropping a bombshell.

"Why?" Worthington said with shock.

"After our last session, I was called to meet with the school's Board of Governors," Jones said with a frown. "They had been approached by one of our alumni, and a complaint filed over our lessons. The complaint had merit, and I was ordered to stop our lessons after this session. It was agreed I may advise you, for the usual fees, but all lessons by me in the ways of magic were to stop for you and yours."

"I see," Worthington said coldly, and he did. That was his Uncle's doing.

"What must be, must be," Jones said with a shrug. "Your… crisis you are going through is not known to them, and in that at least I can still help."

"Why do they not know?" Worthington shot back.

"I do not tell them everything." Jones shrugged. "You will be very powerful one day, and I do not wish to lose you to what would claim you. It will be a great evil and have no respect for other mages. The world is changing. Any fool with sense can see that. Dwarves and other magic creatures surface for the first time in centuries. Demons hunt mages again, and we stand on the brink of another Demon War. The Adepts were fools to not listen to your pleas for help, and now they pay the price."

"Do you think I should have done differently?" Worthington asked and was surprised at the single bark of laughter from the older man.

"You did just what they would have done, and more." He laughed. "You saved yourself and more in that you also saved the Light-fools who followed you. Most of them would have just focused on themselves and probably lost altogether. No boy, you are already stronger than them in many ways. Even your Mage's Council has survived when I thought it would shatter within days of the demons leaving forever."

"It is not easy keeping it going, but everyone is determined to do their best," Worthington admitted cautiously.

"That's just it, Worthington," Jones said. "Everyone, including you. The first form of Mage government in centuries that wasn't imposed by force of will alone and you're keeping it together, keeping it working. Then you turn around, and now you've got dwarves building you a castle and a city just a few hours from a major mundane metropolis? There must be hundreds of dwarves out there, which means there are probably a thousand or more we don't see deep in their mountain homes."

"They are overcrowded there are so many of them," Worthington admitted and enjoyed the look of surprise that flittered across the man's face. "All the magical races are facing such problems. There will be more than dwarves here soon."

"Surely they are not planning any…contact with mundanes?" Jones breathed hoarsely as he spoke.

"If they were, at least they would listen to me first," Worthington said, not quite admitting what he already knew.

"You would be cautious?" Jones asked obliquely.

"Very." Worthington agreed.

"That is well then." He said with a heavy sigh. "You are probably exhausted."

"It is almost dinner time." Worthington shrugged.

"Then we should wake your channel and head upstairs," Jones said, and they did just that.

Dinner was an interesting affair, to say the least. It was the first meal he'd had in the Main Hall, and there were three tables set up when he entered. He sat at one table with Jamie, Brandon, Rob, Carl, and Colin along with Matt Wilson and Byron Jones. At another table sat the mage students from the boarding school along with Nick Wooten and Dakota Ungashick. At the other table sat the ten members of MR that had made the trip up from the valley.

The dwarven drink that Sapha set in front of him was very refreshing and revived Worthington enough after a few sips that he began to notice what was going on in the dining hall. The Housemistress served the head table herself, while one of the dwarves he remembered meeting earlier set dishes and drinks in front of the table full of MR members. A human male, maybe in his early twenties with brown hair and pale skin served the table of mage students from his old boarding school while another human female with long brown hair and equally pale skin brought platters out from the kitchen, setting them on several side tables for the others to take directly to the tables.

"That be Mara and Jan," Sapha said after he shot her an enquiring look. "They did arrive earlier this afternoon. Most of the others I expect to work here are arriving tonight. It was my thought to introduce them all to you in the morning as a group, but these two be experienced, and their help is needed now."

"That's fine," Worthington assured her as he took another sip of the drink. "This is good."

"Aye, it is a mixture our mages use to restore their strength after a long day of casting." She grinned. "I thought it would be useful to you tonight."

"It is." He told her as she left to grab some more food.

The food was good, with the main course being some kind of roasted fowl served with grilled vegetables and potatoes that had odd spices he'd never quite tasted before. The conversation with Byron Jones was light, mostly about little events at the school he had missed by not attending there this year. On his other side, Jamie was involved in a discussion with Matt Wilson about the older man's fascination with television shows. Wilson was a television addict, in addition to being a recovering alcoholic, which was how he'd ended up in Worthington's employ.

His last employer had fired him for showing up drunk one too many times. He'd gotten himself cleaned up though, and no longer drank at all, a condition of his continued employment. Wilson was grateful enough for a second chance that Worthington had felt it safe to hire him.

After dinner was over, Sapha announced that there would be drinks and entertainment in the third-floor movie theater. It proved to be a movie that was currently playing in the mundane theaters, and he knew better than to ask how the dwarves had gotten a copy of it already. Many of the mage students and MR members mingled together and actually sat down in small groups as they watched the movie. Worthington didn't, although Jamie did sit near his brother's best friend Billie, and the red-haired young mage Tony.

"Not interested in the movie?" The voice belonged to Mitchell Pierce and was soft, not really startling Worthington as he stared out a third-floor window in a room just off from the movie theater. It was a small theater, designed to seat thirty comfortably, and was just another reminder of how big this place was. Had the dwarves built it like this because they expected him to make it his permanent home, or had they built it to convince him to make it his permanent home? What did it signify that they would go to so much effort to build him a fabulous residence like this in a middle of a village they had already told him they meant to be a direct link to the human world?

"Just thinking," Worthington said and turned to look at Mitchell. The guy had changed a lot in the past year. His face had less of a boyish appearance, and it was easy to see now what he would look like when he was older. Mitchell wasn't quite handsome enough to be a model, but he had fine features and looked every bit the example of a well-heeled young gentleman.

"You always were a quiet one," Mitchell said gently as he sipped on what looked like scotch and water. Worthington had a scotch of his own that he had been sipping gently.

"I've changed a lot since you knew me at school," Worthington replied as he looked back out through the window. The dwarves were still working on the buildings that he could see, despite it being well after dark.

"It was different not having you around this year," Mitchell stated. "We always knew not to talk about magic outside of lessons, but always before there was this sense of strength about the school that just wasn't there this year. It took me a few weeks to figure out that it was because you weren't there. Master Jones explained it to me when I asked him about that."

"What did he say?" Worthington asked gently.

"He told me several things he didn't tell most of the other students," Mitchell said quietly after taking another sip. "After you, I think I'm about the strongest mage in our year, and this next year there's only two of the younger students who have potentially more power even if they aren't as well-trained as I am, and you are. Master Jones said that he and the others have been noticing a trend over the last ten years. There have been more and more powerful mages showing up. One of the new students coming next year is going to be another Adept-potential like you and that Colin kid you have here. Some of the other schools have reported that they've also had an Adept-potential moving through their halls."

"There has also been more mage-gifted popping up than ever before too, right?" Worthington asked. That would fit with what the dwarves said.

"Yes." Mitchell nodded slowly. Worthington had never noticed before how deep his dark blue eyes looked, even when they'd fucked once or twice. "It's making them nervous, that so many young mages are showing up. He told me that there haven't been so many mage-children born outside of the old families in generations."

"The world is changing, Mitchell," Worthington said softly as he took a sip of his own drink and decided to set it down on the windowsill. "Magic is growing stronger. The dwarves are here because their mountain halls are growing overcrowded. They can no longer fit all their people into the home they built there, and need to expand. I am told it is the same as the other magical races as well."

"The world isn't as big as it once was." Mitchell frowned. "There just aren't that many places they can expand to and stay hidden."

"No, there's not." Worthington agreed, letting the unspoken implications hang in the air.

"What are you going to do about it?" Mitchell asked as he let out a loud exhalation.

"What makes you think there is anything I can do about it, or should?" Worthington asked him, and Mitchell gave him a sharp glare.

"Don't play me as being stupid," Mitchell stated flatly. "I know the histories. My father's made sure of that. Everyone remembers the history of the Sinclairs and how your family once ruled over most mages until the Demon Wars. Now you're forming a type of mage government out here, you're forming alliances with dwarves and other magical races just as they're beginning to expand, and you're building a network of mages that are all connected to you, owe you obligations and loyalty. You're forming a powerbase, and the Sinclairs have always been trying to regain the glory and power they held before the Demon Wars."

"You think I'm trying to assume the leadership of the mages again?" Worthington asked him calmly.

"You're different than you were before," Mitchell said quietly as he finished off his drink and set it down next to Worthington's. "Before, I'd have said you wanted to rule over all magic with an iron fist, but you're not doing that now. You are taking leadership, but it's with the consent of others, and if I understand how this Mage's Council works, you aren't able to dictate to them at all."

"Only in certain situations, like if demons were at our doorstep, and even then it's not like I can issue orders from on high," Worthington admitted. "I might have influence with the dwarves, but I haven't even met with other races yet, and I don't have the power to tell them what to do either."

"But you're becoming the center, the person everyone is looking to for leadership, and that's how you take charge," Mitchell said evenly.

"How does that make you feel?" Worthington asked with real interest and turned to study the face of the guy he'd known since he first started attending the boarding school. As difficult as it would be to use the word with anyone from that school, Mitchell had probably come the closest to being a ‘friend.'

"I'm jealous," Mitchell admitted with an honest shrug. "I see the power you're collecting, and I want a piece of it. The Pierce family has never been all that influential until after the Demon Wars, and even then we haven't exactly been of the Sinclair caliber. I'm the strongest mage in the history of my family. Still, I'm not blind. I can see the world is changing, and that you are at the center of that change. When it's over, you're going to have a lot of power and influence, even if you aren't a King of the Mages. That's something that I want to be connected to, not as a lackey you understand, but as an ally."

"What are you proposing?" Worthington asked with an arched eyebrow, and Mitchell smiled ever so slightly as he stepped forward and ran a hand down Worthington's arm.

"We can seal a bargain with a kiss." Mitchell offered with just the slightest blush reaching his cheeks. "I seem to remember a time or two when we snuck into each other's room at night. It was always an enjoyable experience for me."

"We could," Worthington said as he felt a familiar stirring in his pants. It had been a while since he'd had sex, and Mitchell wasn't ugly. Their lips met gently, in a cool kiss. It lacked the passion that Worthington had grown to expect from Jamie or Jeremy, but it was decent nonetheless. "Let's go upstairs."

"Okay." Mitchell agreed, and they left the room they were in to head up the nearest stairwell. He gasped when they entered Worthington's bedroom that was suffused with a soft light that flickered like candles from the chandeliers overhead. They kissed again, and this time there was the slightest flicker of passion from Mitchell as their mental shields brushed each other. Then his mind was opening as he relaxed his barriers a bit, and Worthington took the implied offer, letting his mind seep into Mitchell's.

He could feel Mitchell's surprise at the passionate feelings that were growing inside Worthington. This was something that had not been present when they'd done this before, at the school. Mitchell was accustomed to sex being something done to relieve tension or seal a bargain, or a play for dominance, not for a sharing of feelings, but he could feel Worthington's growing excitement and the passion that existed in him now. It found an answer inside Mitchell, an answer the guy had never suspected existed in him.

The world of Dark mages was a world of cool calculations, of figuring the cost of what was being given, or the value of what was being received. What Worthington was offering as their mouths opened against each other and their tongues began to tentatively explore each other was different. It was sharing, not give and take. Worthington wanted to know Mitchell, to understand him, not necessarily to take or receive anything else, and it sparked a need in Mitchell that he hadn't known was there.

Even as they broke the kiss, their minds explored each other and Worthington saw more of what was driving Mitchell in this. Mitchell, like many of their peers, was afraid at the sense of impending change they were feeling. The world was unfolding in new ways, with new dangers and they feared running over a precipice together if they didn't achieve some new balance. Instinctively they knew the answers would have to come from them, from their generation, because their parents and teachers were too hidebound in the way things had always been done to adjust, and Mitchell Pierce saw Worthington Sinclair as a lifeline to hold onto instead of falling over that precipice.

Their clothes were lying on the floor, and Mitchell was lying on his back in the bed when Worthington entered him gently. His pale body reflected the candlelight from above while Worthington's tanned body seemed to absorb it. Worthington could feel his pain as his large cock entered Mitchell, but the pain turned to pleasure, and Mitchell accepted both with real emotion.

Later, when they had both had their orgasm and lay in the large bed next to each other, he curled up against Worthington even as their minds separated and they both let their shields go back into place. Worthington had shown him something new, something that promised more than the cool, emotionless calculations he'd always known, and he had accepted what was being offered. He still feared what was to come, but knew that as long as he stood by Worthington, his loyalty would be returned.

Worthington understood things a little better as well and knew that even as the world of magic was changing, so to would those who followed the Dark path be able to change. People like Mitchell would not reject the Dark as he had done, but they would reach a new understanding, given time and the opportunity. All he could do was offer that opportunity, and he vowed to do that as he drifted off to sleep.