The Dragons' Bathhouse: A Reverse Harem Enemies-to-Lovers Soulmate Romance

25

She closed her eyes, squeezing it shut. Her mind cycled through her memories in random flashes of colour. No soulmate, a dead family, working so hard that her skin was rubbed raw. Shitty alcoholic relatives. Saving enough money to come to the Spirit Realm for a new life. Meeting Seri, her best friend. Meeting the twins. She smiled sadly to herself.

Stupid little Eden and her stupid little heart.

"Open your eyes," the medusa commanded, and Eden was compelled to open them, her eyes dancing over to the green snakes that reared their ugly heads. And her eyes met those of the emerald ones of the medusa and she began to turn into stone.

It was cold, so cold. The heat from her body vanished, and she stiffened, her head crawling with the stone, murky as the magic began to do its work on her. Her eyes were taken first, the darkness consuming them, and then it steadily crawled down her face, reaching to her ears. The transformation was painfully slow, and she begged for it to take her from the pain.

"NO!" Someone roared, his voice reverberating across the room. His voice thundered, vibrating up her skin and crackling with his power. Another took her into his arms and she flinched, her breath escaping her in ragged pants.

Her mind was murky with the stone, and she tried to reach for the medusa. No, no. She needed it to end. She wanted it to end. Why was her heart still intact, beating in her chest and filled with that an inner ache that was not from the physical pain? Something sparked at his touch, a fire that kindled in her chest. She tried to remember why she once hated that fire. At least, it hadn't hurt her. At least, it was bearable in a different sort of way.

"Oh my God," the person murmured. His voice trembled, shaky with his pain. She felt coldness dance over the skin of her back, but it stung and she whimpered softly. Her head was dizzy and her heart felt warm from the gentle scent of winter snow. His breath hitched and she could almost hear the tears in his voice. "I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm so sorry."

"What did you do to her?" Another voice demanded from before her. It was angry, and it roared, dark and rough.

"Your highnesses! I-I have to apologise on her behalf for offending you. She was going to quit—"

"Then why is she here? WHY IS SHE DYING?"

Eden's face felt hot from the heat that burned before her and she could hear the medusa screaming with terror. The person holding her pressed a cool hand to her forehead, and energy sparked as he removed the stone that consumed her face. It seemed to work because her head felt just a bit less heavy. But her eyes remained in their darkness, lost forever.

"S-She stole a bag of mermaid tear pearls!"

"Pearls?" The person standing sounded incredulous at her words, he scoffed. "The fuck? You wanted to kill her because she almost took a bag of stupid fucking pearls?"

"T-the pearls! Cats bring the bag of pearls!" There was a shuffling sound of feet and the soft meowing of cats. "See? See? "T-they were mermaid tears! They cost 2 billion gold! She took 3 hundre—"

"I don't FUCKING CARE HOW MANY SHE TOOK YOU MOTHER FUCKER!" He seemed to have done something because the Grandmother squealed like a dying pig. Her voice escaping her lips in a choked croaking sound. "How the fuck do you know it was her? WHY DID YOU JUMP TO CONCLUSIONS?"

"It was in her bag and it smells like a human—"

"Oh my fucking God. She didn't even touch it. She—" He let out a snort of laughter. "IT DOESN'T EVEN SMELL LIKE OUR EDEN YOU FUCKING BITCH!" There was the sound of a fist against flesh and the medusa spluttered, coughing violently. "IF SHE DIES, YOU AND YOUR ESTABLISHMENT CAN ROT IN FUCKING HELL—"