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

41

"We should be more worried about going fucking mental..." Keegan panted, looking distraught as he held on to a chair for the support. "We're going to have to consume the soul flowers in another few minutes. There's no escaping Altair and Vega. We have to let the soul fire free."

Kaizel gulped nervously, rubbing a hand over his chest. The fire was already difficult to control with the barrier, it would be impossible to rein in once they consumed the soul flower. He growled, cursing under his breath. They were not anywhere close to fucking ready! Why the fuck did their father think they were ready for this? God, fucking damn it!

You would be ready if she were a goddess. The voice in his head whispered. Goddesses would have been able to withstand the fire, the strength of your bodies, the need. He bit the insides of his cheeks, looking up at his brother.

"What if we looked for her now?" Kaizel rose, desperation tearing through his body. He needed an answer to all his problems. An answer that would be his salvation. He hated this feeling of loss, hated how close he was to giving up on her. He wanted her, soul fire or not. He wanted her. He didn't care if he would have to consume poison for the rest of his life so long as he could hold her in his arms at night. He just wanted her back.

He continued to speak. "What if we went to search for her through the time-stop? We can do it. We can find her. We could sniff her out in the sea of millions. We just have to get to the Human Realm. "

"The time-stop does not work in a portal. We don't have time, brother," Keegan sighed. "There is no fucking time. Even if there is, the risk is too high. We might be consumed by the soul fire when we find her. We might kill her in time-stop. Do you want that?"

"We can consume more poison."

"Poison? You think it fucking works? You just went fucking insane. It took everything for me to not lose my head too." His brother glared fiercely at him, his rage seeping out of his skin in bouts of icy wind. "We'll be fucking her frozen body until we return, and when time resumes, she will not be able to take it. She will die! SHE WILL DIE!"

Keegan was panting, his body shaking from the outburst as he held himself. His expression crumbled, and he held himself, his bottom lips quivering as he leaned against the wall. Keegan was hurting just as much as Kaizel was. And Kaizel was torn with the need to pull him into his embrace, to tell his twin when everything would be okay.

Only it wasn't okay.

Keegan spoke with a shaky voice. "There's too much at stake, okay? Without the Peach in her system, there's no safety net for us to take such risks. Without the sky dragons by our side to aid us in this transition, there's nothing we can do. And we're already losing our fucking minds! Tell me you don't feel the fire burning at the barrier, tell me you don't feel the need hardening your cocks."

"Then what can we fucking do? We need to get her back! We need to explain everything to her—"

"We can't do anything ," Keegan replied, his voice disgustingly monotonous, and Kaizel hated it. He hated the resigned look in his eyes. The way his face fell and his eyes were vacant and empty. He slumped against the wall, broken and defeated. "This is for the better brother. This is the only way she can live her life. This is the only way for her to go free. Give up. Finish up whatever you need to do, and then I'll chain us up." His brother shook his head. "I had assumed that we were powerful enough to resist it but the soul fire is stronger than I thought. We might lose our mind."

"Chain? For how long?"

"As long as we can survive it."

"You mean until we die?" Horror filled Kaizel as understanding filled his chest. No.

"Yes, Kaizel. Until our soul fire fucking extinguishes, until we don't have enough fucking dragon fire to live. Until we fucking die! " Keegan snapped, his voice loud and gruff, angry. "It was always either one. Us or her, then us. Dragons don't share mates because we can't. Our mates will die having to sate two dragons' soul fires. And with a human? It was a fucking death sentence. She was our downfall from the very beginning. She's right. We would kill her. "

"Don't fucking say that!" Kaizel growled. "She's our soulmate. We can survive this. WE CAN! Our father can hold us back from her, the clan will help us once they see us go mad. They will protect her, they treasure soulmates. They will keep her safe!"

"You know what father said!" Keegan glared at him then, but Kaizel knew that his brother was angry at the world and not him. "They all think that this is just another one of our fucking pranks. And to dragons a hundred years is a blink of an eye, Eden will die before the entire clan realises that we weren't fucking around with word of a human soulmate."

Keegan snorted, shaking his head. "It's the story again. The boy who cried monster. We fooled everyone, we played our pranks, and now we are the ones who will suffer the consequences."

"If Eden comes back, we could—"

"Eden won't come back!" Keegan glanced at him, shaking his head. "You think she'll come back? We're fucking bastards! We fucked with her life! She's fucking done with us." Keegan sighed, tears dripping down his cheeks. "She's done."

"She loves us! She'll come back!" Kaizel pleaded, but he didn't believe his own words. She wouldn't come back. His brother was right, they were bastards, assholes that had made her life miserable. And he hated himself for that.

He hated himself for throwing away his only shot at happiness in life.

"Listen to me twin. Listen. This is for the better. With or without the Peach, goddess or not, there was always be a risk that we'll kill her." Keegan's eyes met with his. "Now she will live. She will definitely live. She won't have to risk dying at our hands trying to satisfy our need. She told us she wanted kids, a big family. She can have that now in the Human Realm. She can be happy. "

He was crying as he said those words, his chest heaving as he sobbed, and Kaizel couldn't help but cry even harder at the sorrow in his brother's eye. The grief burned in his chest, a pain that radiated to his throat, scorching in his temples. He hated this.

"But she's ours! W-we love her!" Kaizel gasped out, tearing up at the thought of her with another.

Her smiling at another man, her kissing another's lips, her round with another's child. He wanted to see that. He wanted to see her happy and glowing; he wanted to hear her laughter. He wanted to be happy with her and his brother. He wanted to see her round with his child.

"And because we love her, we will protect her from ourselves, we will give up our lives for her. Do you understand, brother?" Keegan shook him, his fingers digging into his skin. "She needs to stay alive! I would give up my life for her health, for her happiness. It's better for her if we end it this way, for her to go on hating us instead of living a life of heartbreak. She won't die by our hands, she won't die like this. So give up, give up. Give up and stop trying to convince me otherwise, stop trying to convince me to kill her."

His words shocked him and Kaizel stared blankly at his brother. His body felt strangely numb, a rush of cold dancing over his skin. Kill her. He bit his lips, trying to stop the tremble of his flesh. He was trying to kill her, and Keegan was right. He cursed, sobbing as he buried his face into his brother's shoulders.

It took a while for him to stop crying, another few minutes for him to pen down his last letter to Eden, words that he wondered if she would ever read. He followed his brother to the room later, strapped down to the rocks with chains of ice and fire. Chains that seared at his skin, making him bleed, a stopper to his powers.

The soul flower tasted like nothing, despite being said to be one of the most delicious desserts in the world. Kaizel had to force it down his throat, swallowing vigorously to stop it from being ejected by his convulsing body. It slid down his oesophagus and already he wanted to vomit it all out for what it represented.

His end.