Page 20 of The Elves and the Shoemaker (The GriMM Tales #4)

Fifteen

Elias

“I

… think so,” Johan replied.

It had been a long time since Elias had been intimate in the way he most enjoyed. He and Rik had attempted it once during captivity, but without oil or magic to create a smooth glide, it had been painful, so they hadn’t tried again.

“I would like for Henrik to find his pleasure inside of me. But I’d also like to kiss you and touch you at the same time. I’d like for us all to feel good together,” Elias explained, already stiff from the thought alone.

Johan nodded. “I’d… I’d like that.”

Elias smiled. He was never happier than when he got exactly what he desired.

Henrik kissed and licked down Elias’ neck to his shoulder. He reached forward to lift Elias’ leg and hike it up over Johan’s hip. Elias loved being manhandled, loved being positioned like a doll and taken.

Elias leaned forward to capture Johan’s lips and groaned into the larger man’s mouth when Henrik rubbed his fingers over his hole.

It had been so, so long.

Closing his eyes, he concentrated on magic, shaping it and forming it in his mind until he felt some of the slick substance leak from him.

Henrik must have felt it because he didn’t hesitate to press his finger in, slipping in easily and lighting Elias up from the inside.

After so long, it was both too much and not enough.

Completely overwhelmed, he lightly bit into Johan’s full bottom lip until the shoemaker whimpered.

Elias bucked his hips, which bumped his erection into Johan’s. He kept going, rhythmically gyrating and chasing after any pressure that felt good until Henrik added two more fingers and rubbed that spot inside Elias that had him writhing.

“Yes, Rik. Right there, please.” Just as he begged, Henrik stopped, and he let out a frustrated humph.

When Elias felt the tip of Henrik’s cock nudging against his entrance, though, he gripped Johan’s arm to brace himself, his fingers leaving little white marks on Johan’s skin.

Henrik pushed in slowly, and Elias loved every moment of it. The stretch was blissful, and the intimacy of having his lover deep inside him soothed a part of Elias’ soul.

This was something else he hadn’t even realised had been stolen from him, and reclaiming it had Elias soaring. He deserved this. Deserved to make love the way he desired, deserved to have his lovers make his body sing for them. He deserved to feel good .

“How does… it feel?” Johan asked.

For once it was Elias who struggled to find the words. “Like… Like I could”—Elias grunted when Henrik thrust into him—“fly. Like I’m… finally alive.” Elias gasped and let his head fall forward against Johan’s chest.

He kissed the shoemaker’s chest and flicked his tongue against his stiffened nipple.

Johan gripped the back of his head and held him there.

Encouraged, Elias kept going, licking and sucking on Johan’s skin and nipples until all he could do was cling on for dear life when Henrik finally gave him what he wanted.

Henrik drove his hips forward, ploughing into him over and over again, hitting that perfect spot.

Johan reached between them and took Elias’ and his own length into his tight fist, rubbing their cocks together in a way that made every thought Elias had ever had, empty from his head.

He came suddenly and without thought, spraying his release over Johan’s cock and hand while Henrik continued to chase his own pleasure inside him. His entire body shook and trembled at the force of it.

“You feel… incredible, Eli. Gods, how are you real?” Henrik garbled out as Elias’ hole clenched around him. It didn’t take long before Henrik groaned, and Elias felt the warmth of his seed filling him.

Johan let go of Elias’ length and reached between the elf’s legs until he could feel where Henrik and Elias remained connected.

Johan scrunched his eyes shut and whimpered before using his other hand to take himself roughly, furiously stroking his cock until he joined them in ecstasy and shook through his orgasm.

He was beautiful like that. All the usual strain of worry nowhere to be found and replaced with blissful rapture that transformed him.

Henrik began to pull out, but Elias reached back and stopped him. “Wait, frieill. Stay inside me a little longer,” he asked. After waiting so long, he wasn’t ready to be empty again so soon. Wanted to relish in the feeling a little longer.

Henrik obliged, pushing back deep inside him and wrapping an arm around Elias’ chest. Johan leaned forward and kissed them both, smiling shyly before pulling them both into an embrace.

“Will you take me like this one day?” Elias asked Johan.

He looked worried and opened his mouth a few times, but he clearly didn’t have his words just then.

“You won’t hurt him,” Henrik reassured, always able to read Johan’s mind apparently, given the relief on his face. “If you go slow and he’s aroused enough, he could probably take us both,” Henrik joked.

“Now, that is the best idea you’ve had in a long time,” Elias said before yawning and nuzzling his face into Johan’s warm, furry chest.

That is a very good idea, indeed.

A

week later, their blissful bubble burst and the elves discovered that they’d become a little too comfortable.

Johan, who had been down the street collecting some food from the butcher's, burst in through the front door of the shop, gasping for breath.

“Queen’s. Carriage,” he blurted out.

“Where?” Henrik asked, his voice laced with panic.

Johan pointed down the street, and Elias rushed to the shop window to take a look.

Sure enough, a golden carriage was being pulled down the main street by four huge black horses.

The pavement, which had been bustling with people just moments before, was a ghost town now.

The only evidence of some children who’d been playing on the corner was an abandoned skipping rope on the ground.

Johan gripped Elias by his upper arm and pulled him into the back, shoving him and Henrik into the workshop.

They didn’t remain in there for long. Once Johan had gone back into the shop, the two of them snuck into the hallway that connected the two spaces and listened in at the doorway.

The front door jingled, alerting them to someone entering the shop. It could have been anyone, but when all the fine hairs on Elias’ skin stood on end, he knew that it was her.

“You are the owner of this establishment?” she asked. Her voice sent shivers down Elias’ spine.

Johan must have nodded.

“I see. And your… workers?”

There was a beat of silence before a man spoke, “I believe the owner is what they call, a ‘mute.’” He said it disdainfully, and Elias hated it.

He wanted to go in there and tell them how much Johan says without his words.

He wanted to hide Johan from anyone who’s ever treated him as less than, but Elias feared exposing Henrik even more.

“Well, if you are selling elf-made shoes, then you have elves working for you in some capacity. Do you not?”

Silence once again. Elias glanced behind him at Henrik, who had gone white as a sheet, sweat gleaming across his forehead as if he had a fever.

Elias realised there was no avoiding this entirely, but maybe he could spare his love.

“Wait here, do not come out, Rik. Do not follow me,” Elias whispered to him.

Taking a deep breath for courage, Elias squared his shoulders and peered around the door.

“I—” he coughed, and the Queen, plus her entourage of four men, turned to face him. “I am the one who assists in making the shoes.”

Her gaze raked over him curiously. “This man here, is your owner?” She pointed at Johan.

The question alone made Elias feel sick. He wasn’t sure whether lying would help or hinder him. If he declared Johan as his owner, she could easily force his hand into “selling” Elias. But if he admitted he was free, there was nobody but himself protecting him.

“No.” He gulped. “He is not my owner. I am free.” He showed his wrists, bare of the copper bangles which had suppressed his access to magic.

She narrowed her eyes in what Elias worried was suspicion.

“Interesting… What does he pay you?”

“One-third of each sale,” Elias answered honestly.

“I have never had an elf in my… employ. But I have witnessed your talents and would be prepared to pay you double if you came to work for the palace,” she offered.

Elias could taste the lie in the air he breathed.

“Thank you for such a… generous offer, Your Highness. But I do not plan to remain in this kingdom for long, so I will have to decline.” Elias bowed his head, dropping his gaze to the floor in what he hoped she would take as deference.

“And what about your friend?”

Elias’ head snapped up to look at her again in panic.

“My friend?” he practically squeaked.

“Yes. I was reliably informed that there were at least two elves here. Maybe your friend would be interested in my offer.”

Dread sat heavily in Elias’ stomach, knowing in his gut that this was all a farce, all a trap.

Elias didn’t even hear the door open, but suddenly Henrik appeared at his side, hands shaking, and Elias wanted to scream at him for showing his face to the Queen.

“Th-thank you, but when we leave this kingdom, we will leave together. S-so, I must also decline,” Henrik said.

Johan had moved closer, too, his large frame a fraction away from being pressed into Elias’ side.

“I see,” the Queen said through clenched teeth. Even her footmen glanced worriedly at each other. They were all frozen in time, waiting in suspense for her next move.

“I suppose I shall not impose on you for any longer.”

That couldn’t be it, could it?

Without another word, she and her men emptied out of the shop, leaving an air of dread in their wake.

The three of them remained in stunned silence until her carriage was long gone and folk had begun returning to the main street.

“This isn’t over, is it?” Henrik asked.

Both Elias and Johan shook their heads. This was definitely not over .