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

45

The barriers that Eden had placed over her heart were breaking, and a horrible, horrible chill that began at her heart, radiated across her skin. She stumbled, gripping onto the sink for support as she stared into the mirror, at the colours of her love ones, at the reminder of what they had done. The evidence was there before her and there was no use for her to try to deny it.

They had given her their eyes.

Their beautiful, beautiful eyes. Eyes with colours that no mortal or spirit could ever hope to acquire. One red and gold like the fire in the tundra, flickering and pulsating with rolling light and the other the deep clear blue of an iceberg. A gasp escaped her throat, tearing right through her body, and forcing a quiver through her skin.

They took away her pain.

She stared at Seri, squinting desperately to search for lies, for tricks, for humour. But there was nothing but sincerity in her best friend's solemn face. Seri's expression was filled with her pity for Eden's self-created mental cage, her eyes portraying her honesty and regret.

And the memory of the blood on their backs surfaced in Eden's mind, of the pain that inflicted their bodies when her fingers moved across their skin, of the scent of rust on her fingertips. And as the pieces fell into place, and her memory supplemented Seri's words, Eden grew stiller and stiller.

They took her place.

Her face went pale as she spoke. "B-but they're gods," she whispered. "They heal quickly...They should heal quickly." Why had they been hurting? Why did their wounds remain on their skin? What had they done to themselves? What had they done for her? She felt cold, too cold as if a bucket of ice had been dumped over her head.

"Not for the twins," Seri murmured. "Not for the situation that presented itself..." She took her hand then, leading her out of the toilet. And Eden followed her meekly, the bravado that danced in her chest had vanished. "Why don't you meet the people who brought me to you? They can explain better. They're gods after all."

"Gods?" Eden echoed as they stepped to a room filled with the warmth of the fire.

There was the sound of gasping and the shuffle of cloth as the other occupants in the room stood and moved towards her. They were blobs of colour that grew closer to her, and Eden's blurry eyes combed over the shades and hues. One had skin the colour of snow, and the other with skin the colour of gold.

"K-Kaizel? Keegan?" she murmured out loud but inside she knew that these weren't her soulmates for the fire in her chest was too silent, too quiet in their presence. Her expression fell as she held on to Seri's arm, pleading in her head for strength. She had fucked up. The tears burned at the back of her throat, sour and thick with her regret.

"Not quite my dear," the soft dulcet voice of a woman echoed from before her and cold fingers brushed across her cheeks. "How sweet you look." She sounded sad, and pain was laced with her gentle voice. "Not the beauty I envisioned that would sway my sons to their knees. But a beauty all the same."

"M-ma'am?" Eden murmured, her eyes trying desperately to focus on the woman that stood before her.

"Your eyes are not properly healed, the transition was not complete." The woman soothed. "I will speed up the process with my magic." She waved her fingers over Eden's swollen, red eyes and warmth tingled at the back of her pupils. She blinked as the world filled with clarity, the blur disappearing into a focus that she had lacked.

The clarity was like a knife through the smoke, and it sliced into her confusion. The man and woman that stood before her were no doubt gods with radiance and power that triumphed that of a spirit's. She searched their features, her eyes darting over the woman's pale, snowy skin and long white-blonde hair. And then to the man's golden hair and tanned skin.

There was wisdom in their sharper features and knowing eyes, but there were no wrinkles to give away their age due to their immortality. Nevertheless, the familiar arch of the woman's pretty doe-shaped eyes and the sharp bridge of the man's noes told her more than she needed to know. They were her twin's parents. Her soulmate's parents. The Emperor and Empress of the Heavens. She fell to her knees horrified to have been caught staring at the rulers of the world. At the people who must hate her for her human lineage, for her status as their sons' soulmate.

"Emperor, Empress I-I —"

"Please my dear, please stand and come sit here beside me..." The Empress moved to sit on the couch, patting at the spot beside her. And Eden marvelled at the fluidity of her graceful movements, her eyes met that of the snake goddess'. "Come sit here and let me explain to you what my sons have yet to explain."

They knew.

Her breath caught in her throat as her heart pounded in her chest. They knew that she was Kaizel and Keegan's soulmate. Would they disapprove of her human lineage? Were they here to get rid of her quickly? Eden grew wary with those thoughts, but the sorrow etched in their features and the panic that danced through their system was a stopper to her suspicion. Something was amiss. Her feet moved before her she could think and she numbly sat beside the Empress herself. A queer feeling of doom coiling deep in her gut.

"A-are they dead?" Her lips moved, an echo of Seri's words, an echo of the fear that boiled in her chest despite the numbness of her mind. The word chilled her to the bone, horror and shock mixing within her system as she trembled. They couldn't be dead. They couldn't. They couldn't die.

She would die without them in this world.