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

36

The uproar was expected. Their relatives speaking to one another in loud yells of outrage. It was expected, for their soulmate was to be an Empress if they were to ascend the throne one day. She would be a princess if she lived. And humans had never stepped into the Heavens. Not one of the citizens of the Heavens were human for they were deemed too weak to be offered immortality.

"A human? You must be joking! They are weak, selfish and bad-mannered creatures. They only think for themselves!" His cousin pointed a finger at him.

"They wage wars amongst their people! They discriminate against one another just because of their colours and many continue to be socially backwards and uneducated! They are unfit for the Heavens!"

"They continue to fear the Spirit Realm! Some countries even point artillery at our portals! Do you think they will accept our world? They can't even find peace in theirs! "

"And you dare consider a human as the soulmate of both of you? As our princess, our Empress?"

"You ought to reject her!" A young cousin stood, a haughty dragon that they both hated.

"Reject?" Keegan roared, the frost spilling from his skin. "You want us to reject her? That will kill her and in turn us both. You know what happens with rejections, the soulmates die. Her soul will break into two. You want us to die?"

It didn't matter really, for they were already dying.

The council went quiet at their words, some shivering at the force of Keegan's power. The twins were strong, stronger than most gods and goddesses in the Realm. They were second to only their father and as he grew older, they only grew stronger.

It was the reason why despite their pranks, despite their 'disownment', they remained publicly named as the princes of the Heavens. Their power would bring the sky dragons to greater heights and ensure that the clan remained the rulers of the Heavens. Their presence was a threat to the rest of the clans, and that was why Keegan was sure that the council would help them once they pulled out their best set of cards on the playing field.

Their death.

"The ways of Fate cannot be contested. She wanted this union for us. We cannot escape it, to violate her will by rejecting it will only bring the sky dragon clan great misfortune," Kaizel said, strangely calm. Keegan glanced at his brother, noting the golden slits in his eye.

"But still... A human? You must have made a mistake. The two of you are pranksters, you just want the Peach for your own fun." Their cousin shrugged, glaring at them, and Keegan stared angrily at the ground. Shit.

The story of the boy who cried monster was a simple one.

A boy that lied about monsters eating his sheep, pranking the villagers again and again until they didn't believe his words. And when the monsters really came, the villagers ignored the boy, and he was eaten. It was a story that they knew by heart. And as children, their mother had recited that story to them whenever they were caught for their pranks.

It seemed that they too were becoming the boy.

"That's right. How do we know if you're lying? Come back to us after you consume the soul flowers."

"We'll be able to tell if you're experiencing difficulties with your soul fire. Only then will we give your soulmate the Peach if you need it, we too understand the need to protect the love of our lives. We will not reject you then—"

"WE CAN'T!" Kaizel roared, interrupting their cousin, his voice pitched with his desperation. "She will die! She will! She almost died today! I-I almost killed her..." Keegan hushed him, whispering words of comfort as he turned his cold, blue eyes at the people who he called family.

"What proof do you want? What proof do you need?" He growled low in his throat.

His cousin appeared startled by his hostility, shrugging as he spoke. "Just something that proves her existence to you, and what she means to you. Something that tells us of your devotion and love—" Keegan began slipping off his robes, unbuttoning the clasps.

"You can't just show us evidence of your love-making!" his uncle gasped, looking disgusted. "Put your clothes back on—"

"Is this enough for you?" Keegan turned, showing them his back.

There was a collective horrified gasp that resounded from his family. Some shocked screams at the tearing and scars, at the blood that dripped from his wounds, at the gory mess of his flesh, the scratches and tears that looked as if he had been mauled and torn, burned by fire. He pulled on his robes, slipping the cloth back on to hide the mess of what remained of his bound wings, turning to look at the faces of the sky dragons. They were distressed, sick and horrified, their faces pale and green from shock. Sky dragons rarely got injured. They were gods and goddesses, deities, their wounds healed at the speed of light and their scars were almost non-existent.

His mother looked as if she might faint and even his father, strong and hard as he seemed, had turned pale. Their entire family seemed horrified, blood draining from their faces, their lips trembling and their eyes round. Some were genuinely concerned for them, others more worried about their position as the top Clan in the Realm. But it was concern all the same.

And they needed that concern.

"Kaizel has the same ones, but his are frostbitten unlike my burns," Keegan snorted.

"W-what happened to you? What is this?" His cousin stammered out.

"Our soulmate was hurt by the owner of the bathhouse, punished for crimes she did not commit. The medusa meant to kill her," Kaizel explained. "We saved her just as she was about to turn to stone, transferred her wounds to us."

"T-this owner almost killed your soulmate?" His mother's voice was trembling, a mess of hisses from her snake heritage. His mother glanced at his father, pounding at his arm. "You can't let this go. They can't let them go free! She almost killed our babies!" His father looked grim, purring at his mother to comfort her.

"But you should have been able to heal, your wounds look fresh. New." His aunt furrowed her brows.

"She was weak despite the transfer," Keegan explained. "Her eyes are lost from the stone. We had to heal her by staying close to her. Her soul was wounded from the damage and she needed our presence. But as you said, we do not have enough understanding of the fire, and we could not resist. She somehow has the fire too, a weaker version that speaks to our dragons. In fact, her fire fuels our's like a catalyst."

"You're not able to control the soul fire despite having yet to consume the flowers?" his father asked, standing at his throne.

"Yes, we cannot. Not with her fire in her soul, not with two dragons after her. So we've been poisoning ourselves to keep it down."

"Poison?" His mother's voice was shaky.

"We take each other's blood, his fire to my ice."

"But it kills you! You couldn't have thought of another method? What are you thinking? Are you crazy?" His mother screamed, tears dripping from her eyes. Keegan smiled softly at his mother, trying to get her to understand.

"What other choice did we have? And it proves to be useless. The poison is not enough, we remain to be needed, and the fire grows. She is too weak as a human. We fear she will pass when we consume the flowers. That we will be the ones to kill her."

"We need the Peach," Kaizel said. "We need it to protect her from us to right all our fucking wrongs."

"An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth. We didn't protect her and so we will provide for her what we can," Keegan sighed, lowering his head. "And each and every one of you should know and understand what it feels like to have a soulmate. We love her."

"We do."

"We will give her everything."

"Anything and everything."

"So please." Keegan knelt on the floor then, placing his head on the cold tile in his plea with his brother by his side.

"Please give us the Peach."