North’s jaw was dangling somewhere near the center of the Earth. They still used magic in this day and age to earn a living? That hadn’t died with the Dragon Wars?! Holy shit. He managed to get his jaw slotted back into place long enough to croak, “But I don’t know enough magic to help them, do I?”
“Probably not.” Ravi shrugged, not bothered by this. “But then, most of what they do is a specialty of this clan, as they developed it. It’s why Lisette offered to teach you. Not only because she wants you to work with us, but to catch you up to speed. You won’t be the first. They had to teach Cassie, Cameron, and Ha Na as well.”
“Think of it as an apprenticeship,” Warin suggested. “In return for her teaching, you’d work with us here.”
And that was perfectly okay with him. North didn’t have any other options to learn, after all, and who wouldn’t want to work in this amazing castle? With sexy dragons? Really, the comparison between working as a mage for the rest of his life and working with cement and aging computers? It was laughable to even try and equate the two.
North’s head swam with internal visions of being able to work magic, day in day out. Of being able to fly with the dragons, of living here in this incredible place. It was a fairytale come true, or could be. If he chose to accept it. Wait. There was another gap, another assumption made.
“Um. But I wasn’t formally invited in? I mean, is this really an option?”
“We’ve learned”—For some reason Warin looked at Ravi when he said this, expression droll—“to not overwhelm the new mages. It never works out well.”
“I said I was sorry,” Ravi grumbled.
Oh, North so wanted the story behind that one.
“We were trying to let you take this at your own pace,” Warin continued with a small smile at North. “I assure you, if you want a place here, Hoheit will be happy to offer you one. We like you.”
North looked uncertainly back at him. “You guys don’t have a lot of mages, I noticed. It’s not just because I’m a mage?”
“No. Tori’s family is an entire clan of mages and they’re not allowed to step foot in here.” Ravi’s lip lifted in a sneer. “Bunch of homophobic assholes. We wouldn’t touch them with a ten-foot pole.”
Warin gave Ravi a bit of a repressive look. “We are still hoping that with time and education they can come around, but we’re not welcoming in mages who are going to be harmful to our other clanmates.”
Ravi leaned closer to North, his expression intent. “Trust me, you’re here because we like you.”
That did make him feel much better. Quite a bit better, really. It was nice to be wanted.
“Does this ease your concerns?” Warin asked him hopefully. “You only have to leave if you want to.”
With that statement, reality came crashing in again. His family. Even if North tried to explain that he could work as a mage here, his parents would never believe it. Mostly because they wouldn’t be able to wrap their heads around it. They’d think he was making things up to buy himself more time.
Seeing their worried frowns, North admitted, “It does help. I like that I have the option. I just don’t know how to explain any of this to my family. They won’t believe it. Or…I guess it’s more accurate to say, they don’t care if it’s true or not. Their entire focus is forcing me home and back to working for the family business.”
Warin leaned forward, eyes level with North, tone compassionate. “I’ll be the first to say that family is important. But North, I do not like how your family treats you. You’ve told me too many things that make it clear to me your family does not see you. They might wish for the best for you, but they do not understand you enough to know what that is. Am I correct?”
North nodded heavily. Yeah, that was a pretty accurate summary.
“If their choices are going to warp and twist your future into something you do not wish for, then I would not advise following their path. It will make you miserable. Which in turn will only anger them, because they will not understand why you do not find joy in what they have created for you.”
“Manipulation never goes down well,” Ravi muttered under his breath. “Not for the one manipulated. Certainly not for the manipulator, although they usually don’t care if you’re happy or not with their choices.”
Ouch. North felt those words right down to the quick. He thought of several instances where his mother had manipulated him into doing something he hadn’t wanted and then gotten mad when he didn’t appreciate “her hard work.” Like the time he’d gone to prom with her best friend’s daughter and then came home six hours later, relieved the evening was over. She hadn’t been happy he’d had a miserable time and didn’t want to date the girl again.
Or the time she’d forced him to go on a hunting trip with his father and brothers only to get mad when he hadn’t even lifted a gun the entire time, instead hiding in the truck and reading a book the whole weekend.
Truly, it never worked out well when North allowed his mother to make decisions for him. But in this case, she had been right that his absence left a hole in the company. North was the only one in the office who really understood computers. Everyone else knew how to operate the specific programs they used to fill orders, but if something went wrong, he was the one who fixed it. Who straightened things back out and got it all moving smoothly again. In that sense, what might be happening in that office while he was in Europe was extremely terrifying. It was sure to be a disorganized mess.
His family drove him insane sometimes. Most of the time. But they did try and love him, even though they didn’t agree with any part of him. The guilt sat heavily with him, the war between love and duty exploding in his head.
Ravi put an arm around his shoulders and hugged him for a moment. “North, we really want you here. So, don’t think you don’t have that option. Okay?”
“Yeah. Yeah, thanks. I’m going to think about it.” And he was. His options weren’t as narrow as he’d thought they were. And that made all the difference.
He peeked at Warin and found the man smiling at him. Why hadn’t Warin said those words? An ugly, heavy weight sank into the pit of his stomach.
Part of the reason why he was so tempted to stay was because he rather hoped he and Warin might be able to have a relationship together. Although that probably wasn’t the right reason to agree to stay here. But still, it was a factor. But maybe Warin didn’t think the same?
After their make-out session that night on the train, Warin hadn’t done more than chaste kisses and hold his hand. He really didn’t know how to read the man. Was he interested or not? Had he thought North was just sort of visiting the castle? Now there was a chance of North staying and maybe he didn’t want North to think he’d been looking for more than just a little fun?
Or was this another part of Warin not wanting to overwhelm him? It was true, a lot had happened to North in the past three days. And his head was spinning a bit.
Or had he misread everything? Warin, Gunter, and just about everyone he’d met made it clear the dragons were desperate for mages. Had Warin done all those nice thing—even the kissing—as a bid to woo North into coming to the castle? And now that North was here, were they just going to be friends? Ick…or worse, polite acquaintances as Warin went off to gather more mages?