Life is Too Short

Life is Too Short

Chapter 13 – Moving In


I hate being sick, but if one must be sick then it’s best to have an elf around to take care of you. My flu lasted two whole days and Thranduil was with me constantly, making sure I took my medicine exactly when the bottle stated, even if he had to wake me up to do it. He kept me pumped full of fluids, making me drink juice and eat soup until it was coming out of my ears. I decided that the flu had better not last more than two days or all of his help was going to start getting annoying, but for the moment, I enjoyed it as well as possible.

I was surprised that during that time, he never once tried to convince me to have sex with him. He lay next to me while I slept and he held me when I wasn’t so feverish that I pushed him away. I couldn’t believe that he was being so good about spending two of his three days with me this way. Never once did he complain or comment that he was being cheated on his time. It actually seemed to be enough for him just to be with me. Halfway through the second day, the fever finally broke. I took a shower with Thranduil and still he didn’t push for sex. By the evening, I was much better, but I felt drained. We watched a movie together in bed and I fell asleep against his bare chest, halfway through. When I woke up the next morning, I felt almost normal. I looked up and smiled at him.

“How are you feeling today, Sinda?” he asked me, letting his fingers play through my hair.

“I’m feeling very well,” I told him, crawling on top of him. “Would you like me to show you?”

A slow smile broke across his face. “Yes, I would.”

I was still a little weak and after a while he took pity on me and rolled me beneath him, finishing what I had started. Once we got going, it was very, very intense and I had to rest after we were done. We got up eventually and had breakfast, which we ordered through room service. It was the first day that he let me have solid foods, though I wasn’t very hungry. Breakfast was followed by a short walk on the beach, after which we went back to bed for a while, making up a bit for lost time. We were still in bed when Haldir showed up precisely at noon. I thought that the Marchwarden was going to break down the door when we didn’t answer it quickly enough. He moved past Thranduil and came straight to the bed where he pulled me into his arms and buried his head in my neck.

“It isn’t going to work,” he said, scaring me.

“What isn’t going to work?” I asked.

“The schedule,” Thranduil informed me. “It isn’t going to work. I already knew that but I wanted him to see for himself.”

“Why isn’t it going to work?” I asked looking over at Thranduil. What did they know that I didn’t?

“The draw is too strong,” Thranduil told me. It hadn’t been too strong just a week ago. Did that mean that this thing was escalating exponentially?

“I cannot be away from you for three days, Sinda,” Haldir told me. “I won’t do it again.”

I looked at Thranduil for help, but he nodded in agreement. “It is the same for me.”

“It can’t be that bad,” I said, wondering what we were going to do about it.

“Sinda, I suggest that you try to be alone for three days and see what happens,” the king said, watching for my response.

“Away from both of you?” I asked, as panic threatened. The thought sent cold chills through my body. There was no way that I could do it and I knew it.

“Ah, so the pull goes both ways,” Thranduil said, watching my face intently, “just as I suspected.”

“Yes,” I admitted, knowing that it was true. I had to be with one of them but preferred to have them both nearby.

“So, what do we do now, trade off every other day?” I asked, not really wanting to do that. I thought that the “transfers” would be too hard. Once again, I felt like a kid in a custody battle.

“No,” Haldir said. “I suggest that we both stay with you all the time.”

It sounded great for about ten seconds. Then I shook my head, no.

“It won’t work,” I said, reluctantly.

“Why not?” Thranduil asked. So he was in favor of the idea, too.

“Because being with both of you together is a lot more… work. It wears me out so much more than just being with just one of you. Remember, there is only one of me and two of you and I’m only human.”

“That would not be a problem, Sinda,” Haldir told me, rubbing my hand between his palms. “We’ll adjust. We will let you rest more often. You can always tell us when you are tired.”

Thranduil nodded. “My sexual drive is much stronger when I’ve been away from you. If I was with you all the time, I think that problem would be solved.”

I had noticed that, too. I remembered what he had been like when he showed up in Nevada after being kept away from me for a whole week. He had been almost like a creature possessed when he had arrived at my condo. I thought back to Tuesday night and remembered how he had acted after being away from me for another three and a half days. He had been more in control this time, yet there had still been an animalistic need beneath the surface. That seemed to fade after he had been with me for a few hours.

“Would you give up your place in Portland?” I asked him.

“Yes,” he said, smiling a little. “In fact, I’ve already packed most of my things.”

“What if I don’t agree to this?” I asked. The king was so cocky and sure of himself sometimes.

“Then I would simply buy a place nearby,” he said. “Regardless, I will not be staying in Portland.”

“Oh. What about you, Haldir?” I asked.

“I would like to move into your house with you,” he said.

We could work out the furniture and belongings later. That wasn’t a big problem.

“No,” I shook my head. What was I thinking? I couldn’t do this. “I can’t live with two elves. It’s just not right.”

“Why not?” Thranduil asked.

“Well, it’s not socially acceptable. What would people say?”

“What did your friends say when you talked to them at the party?” Haldir asked.

I thought back. I only told a few. My friends said they’d do the same thing. Elaine and her cohorts had been too shocked to say anything. But this was wrong.

“Sinda, no it isn’t normal,” Thranduil said, “but neither is this draw or pull that we are experiencing. We don’t understand it but it is there, nonetheless.”

“So this isn’t something that you would normally agree to?” I asked them.

“No,” Haldir said, “never.”

Thranduil shook his head. “If somebody had told me two months ago that I would be wishing for this now, I would have laughed.”

“Okay,” I said. “We’ll try it and see what happens, but what do we do, all share a bed room? Sleep in the same bed? This is just weird.”

“Do you have a better suggestion?” Haldir asked.

I considered some kind of sharing – they would take turns sleeping in the bed with me while the other slept on the couch. No, I couldn’t see that. There was no need for it.

“No, I don’t,” I said. “But you will have to promise to let me sleep. We’ll have to go easy on the sex marathons.”

Haldir smiled at that. “I promise,” he said. “But you must also let us know when you are tired. We cannot always tell.”

“I’ll tell you,” I assured them.

Haldir kissed my hand now, looking very relieved.

Never in a million years would I have agreed to anything like this with two men. Of course, I never would have agreed to have two men for sexual partners at the same time, either. I still found it hard to believe that I had agreed to it with the elves, but all I could say in my own defense was that this pull had been there from the beginning for me, at least with Haldir, and we were being manipulated by something out of our control. It seemed much easier to go with it than to fight it.

“What about your other women?” I asked Thranduil. I certainly didn’t want him bringing them around our house, as I was already starting to think of it.

“There are no other women,” he said. “Not any more.”

I stared at him in disbelief. I remembered now that Haldir had said that he suspected this, a few days earlier, but I hadn’t believed it for a second.

“None? You ended your relationships like Haldir did?”

“No, not like Haldir did,” he said. “I just quit seeing them. It was much easier that way.”

“For you,” Haldir frowned.

They slid into Elvish and argued briefly before I interrupted.

“And that brings up my other concern. Could the three of us live together without you two fighting?”

“We can try it,” Thranduil said.

“We’re going to need a bigger bed,” I said.

Now that the decision had been made for us to move in together, it felt like everything had fallen into place. It felt right, or maybe it just felt necessary. I had a hard time understanding exactly what it was that I felt, but I can honestly say that I thought that it was meant to be that way. We were going to be moving into the new house in a couple of days so we enjoyed the hotel while we could. When it was nice, we went for walks on the beach. Sometimes I’d walk with both of them, sometimes just one while the other took care of business around town. We all went to buy the new bed. The waterbed was going into the smaller bedroom, which would become a guest room as well as the computer room. I couldn’t imagine what guests we’d be able to have stay with us, though. It would be too awkward to explain the sleeping arrangements.

I wanted a bigger waterbed but the elves both wanted a wrought iron bed frame. Unfortunately, the two seemed to be mutually exclusive.

“Why do you want a wrought iron bed?” I asked. They looked at each other, sharing one of those looks that said that I had missed something. Haldir finally leaned down and whispered into my ear. “Handcuffs.”

“Oh,” I said. We hadn’t tried that, but I certainly thought that it sounded like fun. Maybe I didn’t need a waterbed after all. We found something perfect. It had a heavy-duty wrought iron frame, perfect for handcuffs if we so desired, and it was big. The mattress we picked was very comfortable, too, so hopefully I wouldn’t miss the waterbed too much.

When we left the store, I whispered, “So where do we get handcuffs?”

“I have some,” Thranduil said. Why wasn’t I surprised?

It rained on our last day in the hotel, so we stayed inside. We left the curtains open so that we could see the ocean and the clouds, spending the day in the Jacuzzi and the bed, but the elves were true to their words and the sex had slowed down tremendously. In fact, while we spent much of the day in bed, most of that time was devoted to watching two movies. I mostly lay wrapped in Haldir’s arms during that time, because Thranduil didn’t seem to need the contact as much. Haldir was undeniably the more romantic of the two, while the king was more adventuresome. He was always thinking of fun things to do and was already planning a ski trip for the coming winter, as well as other trips that we could take together.

When we did have sex, there were a few times when they took me together during the days at the motel, but for the most part, we took turns. They both seemed very comfortable about it and so did I. I tried to make sure it was fair, but while I had sex more often with Thranduil, Haldir and I spent more time lying together in each other’s arms. They both seemed comfortable with it and so was I. Previously, the sex had almost seemed to be the defining point of my relationship with each of them, especially Thranduil, but now we did other things. Besides our walks, we watched movies together and talked and went out to eat. I took turns sitting next to them in the restaurant.

On our last night in the hotel, Thranduil decided that we should go out dancing. I thought that Haldir was going to protest at first, but he didn’t.

“Which dress should I wear?” I asked, holding up the red dress and the black one. I was still saving Haldir’s dress to wear when we went out alone one night and I had already told him that.

“Black,” Haldir said at the same time that Thranduil said, “red.” Great.

I tried the black dress on and modeled it for them. I took it off, slipping the red dress over my head next and Thranduil said, “Put the shoes on, Sinda.”

It was the way that he said it that told me we would be having sex before we went dancing. When our eyes met, I knew that I was right. He really got turned on by the red dress and shoes. As I suspected, I had barely got the strap fastened on the second shoe when he pushed me back onto the bed. I saw Haldir roll his eyes, but the Marchwarden watched as Thranduil took me.

“If the two of you are through now,” Haldir said, acting bored, “we should be going.”

He couldn’t fool me. I knew that he had enjoyed it. He was more patient than Thranduil and he would wait until we got back to the room, unless I wanted him now, in which case all I had to do was… I walked over to him and sucked the tip of one ear into my mouth. He cried out as he closed his eyes and let me continue. It didn’t take long before he wanted more, so I obliged him. Good, I thought, now everybody would be nice and relaxed when we went dancing. Both of my elves were very strong willed and dominant males. They tended to butt heads and sometimes I just had to take matters into my own hands and do what I had to do to keep them under control. Sex worked very well for that.

The place where we went dancing wasn’t exactly a high classed night club, but it was a step above the place where I had taken Thranduil in Nevada. We found a table and Thranduil asked us what we wanted to drink.

I decided that I was in a beer mood, so I asked for Newcastle. Thranduil smirked. He told me that there was something about seeing a woman in a dress, drinking a mug of beer that hit him as being funny. I didn’t care. I liked dark beer. Sometimes I wore jeans and a t-shirt and drank wine, too. You just never knew what terrible faux-pas I was going to commit next. Maybe someday I’d shock them both and do shots of whiskey and smoke a cigar while wearing an evening gown.

Thranduil wanted to dance immediately and he preferred the fast dances and anything to which he could dance “The Swing.” Haldir liked the slow dances and hated the fast ones. It worked out well. The only problem was that I danced every dance. I was glad each time the band took a break.

After my third beer, I suggested we all do a shot of Jagermeister.

“What is that?” Haldir asked.

“I’ll be right back,” I said, going up to the bar. I bought three shots and returned to the table, setting one in front of each of us.

“Ready?” I asked, holding mine up to my mouth.

“For what?” Haldir asked. “To finish this drink in one swallow?” He sipped it and almost choked. “It is too strong.”

I looked at Thranduil who nodded. “Sinda, you must remember that our senses are very acute. It is hard for us to drink something with such a strong smell.”

“I’m sorry,” I said, gulping mine down. “I forget sometimes.”

“You aren’t upset that we won’t drink it?” Haldir asked, searching my eyes.

“No, of course not,” I laughed, grabbing his shot and throwing it back.

“Sinda, I don’t know if this is a good…”

I grabbed Thranduil’s and drank it, too. “There. No more problem.”

Thranduil grinned as he grabbed my hand and led me back onto the dance floor, now that the band had started again. I was very relaxed now and it seemed like it was easier to dance, but it also seemed like I was stepping on his feet more often. Not that I was falling down drunk, but my feet just didn’t seem to be cooperating with the rest of my body. Thranduil seemed to find it humorous. Haldir did not.

“Sinda, you should not have had all three of those drinks,” he scolded me during the next slow dance.

“Why not?” I asked. I was feeling pretty good.

“Because you can hardly stand up without my help,” he said, into my ear as we danced. Okay, so maybe I was a little tipsy, but he was exaggerating a lot.

“You aren’t having fun, are you, Haldir?” I finally figured it out.

“I love slow dancing with you, Sinda, but I do not like fast dancing and I do not like seeing you drink this much.”

“Well, I guess we could go,” I said. We had been there for almost four hours.

“If we can get his Highness to agree,” Haldir said. I looked over to see the Mirkwood monarch watching us with a smile on his face. I waved and his smile grew. He was having fun, but I could make him want to go. I was ready, tired from all the dancing.

When we sat down at the table, Haldir told Thranduil that he thought that we should go.

Thranduil looked at me with an easy smile. He stirred his drink. “Go ahead,” he told the Marchwarden.

Haldir sighed. There was no way he was going to leave me alone with Thranduil in my partially inebriated condition. He was very protective that way.

“Do you want to leave, Sinda?” Thranduil asked, the smile still playing on his face.

I reached over and put a hand on his leg, making physical contact so that he could read my thoughts, then I gave him some thoughts worth reading. By the time I was done sending him my message, I was the one smiling and the look on his face was now one of desire. He stood at once and took my hand, leading me towards the door, with Haldir close behind.

I wondered if he would climb into the back seat with me but he behaved himself until we got to the room. Haldir calmly walked over and started running water into the Jacuzzi while Thranduil quickly undressed, eyes never leaving me. I was pretty sure that I knew what he had in mind. Same thing I had in mind. I thought I’d tease him a little, though.

“Take your clothes off, Sinda,” he said, making short work of his own.

“No, I think I’ll just go to bed,” I told him. “I’m tired.”

I lay down on the bed on my stomach and counted to three before I felt his weight on the mattress. I smiled, though he could not see it. He left my shoes on, but pulled my underwear off, tossing it aside. I felt him slide my dress up. He allowed his hands to caress my backside for a few moments before whispering into my ear, “Are you seriously too tired, Sinda?”

“I think you could persuade me to wake up a little,” I admitted.

“I thought so,” he said, pulling me onto my knees and sliding into me.

After several minutes, he marked my neck as we both reached completion together and then he whispered into my ear. “Did that wake you up?”

“Oh, yeah,” I said, turning my head to kiss him.

We joined Haldir in the Jacuzzi and I sat on the Marchwarden’s lap.

“Are you still drunk, Sinda?” Haldir asked, warily.

“Drunk? Who said I was drunk?” I asked. “I just had a nice buzz going. Are you still grumpy?”

Haldir snorted.

“You could hardly walk,” he said, “and I am not grumpy.”

“But I could dance,” I said. Thranduil and I both laughed, but once again, Haldir did not see the humor.

“Haldir, it wasn’t that bad. I wasn’t staggering or stumbling. Come on, lighten up,” I told him.

He looked at me, but he didn’t seem to have lightened up.

“Please?” I asked him, straddling his lap and wrapping my arms around his neck.

He looked away, so I moved up closer and leaned around to where my face was in front of his and he couldn’t ignore me. He tried to look around me but it wasn’t working.

“Sinda!” he said, annoyed. The way I saw it, I had two choices. I glanced over my shoulder at Thranduil and knew that he was more than willing to play with me if the Marchwarden wasn’t. Then again, I so enjoyed unruffling those feathers of Haldir’s when he got like this. I liked a challenge and I loved Haldir and didn’t want him upset with me. I went for the ears, again. I had to.

“Stop it!” he said, trying to sound like he meant it. I knew better. I smiled at him as I played with his ears, caressing the tips with my fingers. I saw his eyes close halfway and I knew that I had him. When he opened them again, he couldn’t conceal the desire that he was feeling. I let him make the first move, wanting to outwait him. It didn’t take long. His arms left the back of the Jacuzzi and dropped to my waist to lift and reposition me. I liked where he placed me.

We didn’t stay long in the Jacuzzi. The next day was moving day and we needed to be up early. Already exhausted from the dancing and other extracurricular activities, I fell asleep almost as soon as I hit the sheets. I had time to register Thranduil’s arm sliding around my waist and Haldir kissing me good night and that was it.

***

Moving day was exciting and fun, as strange as that may sound. Once I got over the strangeness of the idea of moving in with both elves, the whole concept had begun to grow on me and I was excited about it. I could tell that they also felt that way. The new bed was delivered first thing in the morning and after it was set up in the master bedroom, we went and got the things from my storage shed.

Rúmil and Orophin had agreed to make the drive to Portland with a moving van to bring Thranduil’s belongings down. They were taking Amalee and Neume with them and making a little adventure of it, spending the night in Portland. They would be here sometime between noon and six, but that was as narrow of a window as Rúmil had been willing to give.

“He should work for the phone company,” Haldir had grumbled, but he was grateful to his brothers, not having wanted to make the trip himself. He was anxious to get settled in.

I had no idea what kind of furniture Thranduil had and how it would fit in with my stuff, but I really didn’t care. I was moving in with my elves and that was all that mattered. The material things were insignificant.

It took us most of the morning to move my furniture and other belongings in and arrange everything. Since I had no idea what Thranduil would be bringing over, I let him handle the placement of the furniture because he already knew where he wanted to put certain items. I unpacked the kitchen things, with Haldir’s help. I couldn’t reach half of the cupboards and he found that amusing. I made a mental note to buy a foot stool as soon as possible.

At some point, I realized that both Thranduil and I were moving in, but Haldir really didn’t have anything in the house of his own, except for his clothes. I put my arms around his neck and mentioned it.

“Do you feel left out, Haldir? I have my furniture here and Thranduil is bringing his, but you have nothing here of your own.”

“I have you here,” he told me, pressing his lips to mine. We must have spent a whole five minutes, just kissing, not getting passionate, but just enjoying each other. Thranduil finally came into the room.

“I hate to interrupt,” he said, and I detected a note of sarcasm, “but where do you want these?” I reluctantly pulled away from Haldir long enough to see Thranduil holding up a couple of pieces of my pewter.

“On the mantle over the fireplace,” I told him. It’s where my grandmother had kept them when they had belonged to her.

Nodding, he left us alone again, but the spell had been broken. Haldir was now putting things on the shelves that I couldn’t reach and I went back to filling the lower shelves and drawers.

We were done by 2:00 and decided to relax on the floor in front of the fireplace. I thought it might end up being a favorite spot of ours and I wished that we had a nice big rug for the wooden floor, like we’d had at the cabin in Michigan.

“We can get one,” Haldir told me. Thranduil turned his head and regarded us. I thought that it must bother him that Haldir could read my mind without contact, not only because of the danger it had involved but because he felt left out of the loop when it happened.

I turned to explain what Haldir had meant, not wanting him to feel left out, and he looked away.

“I know,” he said.

“How did you know?” I asked.

He gazed at me for a moment before finally getting up and asking if we wanted more hot chocolate. He had made a batch of it and added Bailey’s Irish Cream and it had been wonderful.

“Sure,” I said, allowing myself to be momentarily distracted.

I looked at Haldir for an answer but he distracted me even further, running a finger along my lips. I took the finger lightly between my teeth and he smiled, rolling me onto my back and kissing me a little deeper than he had done before.

“Are we going to break in the new house?” Thranduil asked when he returned, setting the three mugs down on the coffee table. He lay down next to me on the sleeping bag that we’d put on the floor.

“My brothers could arrive at any time, so maybe we had better wait until tonight,” Haldir said, though I knew that he didn’t want to wait.

“By tonight, I may be so exhausted that I’ll fall straight to sleep,” I told them.

“We’ll have to do something about that,” Haldir smiled. It wasn’t often that they used their elvish powers on me, but once in a while it would happen. It would be nice to have it happen tonight because I really wanted to be awake and try out the new bed in our new house. I also wanted to try out the floor, but more than anything, I wanted my question answered.

“Thranduil?” I asked him. “How did you know what I was thinking a few minutes ago? We had no physical contact.”

He sighed and remained silent for a moment. Finally turning towards me, he admitted, “I created the same type of bond with you that you have with Haldir.”

“The bond that you said was too dangerous?” I asked him, skeptically.

“Yes,” he said, rolling his eyes. I watched him for a moment as he was obviously trying to decide how to explain it to me or maybe to us. He finally said, “I wanted to be on equal footing with Haldir. As long as Haldir had a deeper bond with you than I did, I felt that he had an unfair advantage in this relationship. He no longer has that.”

I quickly shielded my thoughts, wondering how many things he’d picked up already while I was unaware. I had not noticed the change. I still loved Haldir more deeply than I did Thranduil and while it made me feel bad for Thranduil, it thrilled me to know that what I felt for Haldir was real and not just due to the stronger bond that he had created. I would have to be very careful about my thoughts from now on, and not just when I was touching Thranduil as it had been in the past. I was getting good at shielding my thoughts, so it wasn’t all that hard. I just wish that I had known. I leaned forward and kissed him now and he quickly placed a hand behind my head, holding me in place while he deepened the kiss.

As if they couldn’t tell already from my actions, I sent them both a little mental invitation, telling them that I thought we should at least break in the new living room. Haldir’s hand immediately found my hip as he moved snugly against my back. He moved the hair away from my neck and I soon felt his lips on me.

We spent the next two hours breaking in the new living room, though it wasn’t just sex, like it often had been in the past. We spent as much time just lying together and watching the fire as we did actually making love and I thought that I liked this so much better. The sex marathons had been fun and exciting at first, especially since I had gone so long without a partner. I had certainly made up for lost time. After a while, though, it had gotten a little overwhelming and I had been very nervous about what they expected when we moved in together, no matter what they had said. Our time in the living room reassured me that they were serious about slowing down. Something else that I noticed is they didn’t seem to be competing against each other so much anymore. Maybe the bond that Thranduil had created had something to do with that, but it made things much more relaxing for me, not having to constantly worry about who had gotten enough attention and who hadn’t. Again, I felt as though things were falling into place.

It was Haldir who sensed his brothers’ approach before we ever saw the moving van arrive. We quickly dressed and I ran to the bathroom to run a brush through my hair. No point in announcing to everybody what we had been doing.

Orophin was driving the rental truck and Neume sat next to him on the seat. I had to smile when I saw them together. They were perfect for each other and just looked good together. Neume’s long blond hair was darker than Orophin’s but almost the same length. It was the same with Rúmil and Amalee, too. Her long hair was similar in color to Rúmil’s, having more of a strawberry blonde appearance. I watched as they got out of the car that they parked on the street.

I could see when Rúmil arrived, that he was pouting. I asked Amalee what was wrong and she quietly explained that Orophin wouldn’t let Rúmil drive the rental truck and Rúmil was a bit bent out of shape about it. When Rúmil walked past me he was mumbling to himself and I thought I heard him say something about having been driving for almost a century. I fought back a smile.

We got the rest of the furniture moved in very quickly with the extra help. Thranduil directed exactly where he wanted each item placed and the king seemed to be in his element, passing out orders and instructions. I wondered what it would have been like to see him in action when he’d been the King of Mirkwood. I pictured him wearing robes and sitting on a throne and thought that he must have been the most handsome monarch ever. I had forgotten about the bond and he turned and smiled at me now, having heard my thoughts very well. That was fine, but I would have to be more careful in the future.

When all of Thranduil’s belongings were in their proper place, we called and ordered pizza since we hadn’t bought groceries yet. I enjoyed having everybody over and they made the house feel more like a home. As we ate our dinner, I told them all that I hoped that they would visit often and they assured me that they would. I made plans with Neume and Amalee to meet them and Michelle for lunch the next day and when everybody left, the house seemed extra quiet.

“Are you ready to go to bed, Sinda?” Haldir asked, reaching out for my hands.

“Yes,” I told him. “Are you going to give me some of that fake energy?”

“If it is what you wish,” he said. “Otherwise we can let you go straight to sleep tonight.”

“Sleep is overrated,” I told him. As Haldir pulled me to my feet and kissed me, Thranduil began turning the lights off and locking doors. I realized suddenly that I felt happier than I ever had in my life. I hoped it stayed this way.

~~To be continued~~