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

39

Eden's sight came back to her in a swirl of blurred colour and light.

She blinked, her knees going weak as the memories flooded her mind like water from a broken dam. The knowledge was gushing through her like a sharp slap across the cheek. Altair and Vega. Eden being late on the first day. Her consuming the time-stop. Her breath came out hard and fast as the world whirled about her, spinning endlessly. Her head felt heavy so, so heavy, and her temples throbbed with pain. She squinted, trying to focus.

Kaizel and Keegan.

The memories flickered in her head, like a horrible, horrible slideshow. Kaizel, cornering her to the wall, snarling as he demanded her to give him her virginity. The lump formed in her throat at the thought as anxiety filled her frame. Keegan offering money to have sex with her. Money. Her body was a commodity to her dragons, and she had been angry, so angry that she had kneed Kaizel in the balls. Her breath wheezed in her chest as the tears began to spill from her eyes, sweat beading on her brow.

Sex that she had given to them willingly in her amnesia.

Her heart pounded, running faster and faster, rattling at its cage in her chest.

They were bullies, her bullies.

Nausea filled her, her stomach churning and flopping as if a tornado spun within her flesh. Bile rose in her throat, drenching her tongue in the acidic residue. The dragons were rushing to her, holding her as they called her name.

But Eden couldn't see past the memories or the tears that filled her eyes. She couldn't see them as her brain reminded her of what had happened. Her, as their bathing attendant, the pranks that they did on her while she worked. Her move to seduce them, fuelled by the fire in her chest. Their soul bond, the tug in her body that pulled her to them.

You're nothing to us but a toy, Keegan had said.

You pissed us off. Kaizel.

We want you to quit. Keegan.

Eden had not listened to those words that day. She had not taken them to heart. Like a mouse inching towards a trap, she had approached them the next day thinking that she could endure it. She had been given an apology, the most delicious strawberries and then spiders that climbed over her body.

Poisonous, deadly spiders that had bitten her inner thigh. She shivered violently as the scar on her skin throbbed at the memory of the bite. It had hurt, and she had been intoxicated by the drug of its venom. Her mind had been a mess of pain, heat and pleasure, and she had almost died.

They tried to kill her.

But they panicked, got cold feet, and then saved her.

Her lips parted at the memory of Kaizel between her thighs. Keegan beneath her writhing naked body begging her to stop. Her orgasm. A flush of embarrassment filled her at the memory of her moment of weakness in the eyes of her greatest tormentors. She had been humiliated, ashamed, and so angry that she had decided to quit.

She believed the soul bond had been their drug on her body. Another poison, another prank.

And she tried to leave, only to be caught by the cat spirits for having pearls in her duffel bag. Their final prank to get her killed. She blanched at the thought, her head going dizzy as the memories surged forth and consumed her whole. It dragged her deep within the depths of darkness, submerging her in the tumultuous sea of anger. She could do nothing to stop the surging emotions that filled her frame, and Eden screamed in the rising water, her voice escaping her in bubbles that popped over the surface.

She had been sentenced to death by her soulmates.

They had tried to kill her.

Her back stung at the memory of the whip, of the fire splitting her skin, of the pain. So, so much pain. Her tears dripped from her eyes as she sobbed, clinging onto her soulmates. She couldn't see them in the tears and the newly grown eyes. But she held their arms, digging her nails into their skin as she sobbed. She was so angry. So angry. So frustrated. So fucking sad.

How could they?

"Eden, Eden, does it hurt?" Her eyes danced to her ice dragon prince. His form, a mess of blue and white colours. She couldn't see him clearly despite her eyes, and he was just a messy smear of colour and light.

"Talk to us, Eden," her fire dragon prince pleaded. And her lips trembled as her heart squeezed painfully.

"D-did you know that we were soulmates only after my death sentence?" She croaked out, her voice laced with her silent cry for their excuses. Excuses that would allow her to forgive them easily, quickly. Excuses that would let her press her lips to theirs again and savour her soulmates. "Was the soul bond the only reason why you kept me alive?"

Her tears trickled down her cheeks at the thought and her skin shivered, a wash of cold rising up her cheeks. The confusion that wrecked her body was familiar, but one thing was for sure. They had disliked her, maybe even hated her. Then they saved her. Was it because they were afraid they would pass on too if she died?

Did they save her only because they were afraid that they might die?

"Don't cry, my love. Please don't cry."

"Eden, please—"

"Why the pranks? Why the spiders?" Her voice grew cold, harsh and steely in the room. It bit into the silence, lashing out like a whip on the ground. "Why did you try to kill me?" They didn't deny that fact immediately, and her breath caught in her throat at the lack of a vehement refusal. At the pause in the air that stank of the truth.

They tried to kill her.

Her lips trembled as her body froze, paralyzed as she stared at their murky faces.

They really tried to kill her.

"I-it was revenge at first for your refusal... The pranks made our time here bearable," Kaizel explained, his voice filled with his plea. "I just-I was angry. I was angry at you. I've never met someone who refused my advances and as our soulmate, you were the most—Most attractive person I've ever met." His tone softened at that. "I wanted you. I wanted you desperately, I just didn't see further than my cock. And so I was angry when you rejected me, I wanted you hurt."

"We only found out that you were our soulmate later on. But I knew first," Keegan explained, babbling out his words desperately. "I knew that you were my soulmate after we first met."

"So you knew, but you continued to prank me, you continued to hurt me."

"I d-did. I know that the spiders were too much. I know. I know. But I didn't mean for it to escalate like that. I just wanted to scare you, just wanted you gone."

"WHY?" She screamed at him. "Why?"

"B-because we were scared. We didn't want a soulmate. We came here because of punishment!" Keegan wailed, his sweet voice rising higher as he spoke. "Leaving with a soulmate was our punishment for our pranks! It was exactly what we didn't want. You represented everything we were against. And you wouldn't be able to take it."

"You're human." Kaizel tried to explain. "You're... You're weak. You couldn't... You would die. D-die." He was sobbing as he spoke, his tears wetting her hand. "Please, please. Please forgive me."

Her smile grew bitter at Keegan's words, and she shook her head. Unbelievable. She pressed a palm to her face, as her heart was torn into shreds at their words. It hurt to know that the people she entrusted her life to had once tried to kill her. It hurt to know that they had once bullied her. That they were enemies.

They tried to kill her.

Her heart clenched. The words in her head were gunshots to her love for them.

They tried to kill her.

"Why save me?" she whispered, trying to pull away from their grasp. "Why take me away from the death sentence? You should have just let me die! " Her voice left her lips, a strangled tormented sound that sent a rush of pain through her chest.