Tidal Engagement - Chapter 3

The bodyguard left.

The Old Steward’s parting look at me was like looking at a lock about to break.

I didn’t miss it.

“He’s afraid of me?”

Pei Tinglan closed the door halfway and paused.

He remembered I don’t enter enclosed spaces.

That detail is deadly.

It makes one mistake gentleness in danger.

“He’s not afraid of you.”

“Then what?”

“Afraid you’ll refuse to be the Anchor.”

I laughed.

“So I was right. You need me, not the other way around.”

Pei Tinglan looked at me for a moment.

“Yes.”

“What happens if you lose the Anchor?”

His voice lowered.

“During Low Tide, one can keep human form. At High Tide, they return to the sea.”

“Not coming back?”

“Most don’t.”

I fell silent for a few seconds.

“The Matriarch of the Pei Family didn’t disappear, she was drained to death as an Anchor?”

Pei Tinglan pressed his brow.

He looked pained.

Scales emerged from the side of his neck, then he forcefully suppressed them.

“That’s how the Old Code was.”

“You knew.”

“I knew.”

“And you still brought me to the island.”

After that sentence, only the sound of waves remained in the lounge.

Pei Tinglan looked up at me.

“Because the Old Code would have killed you tonight.”

I hate when people use “saving you” to justify all control.

Especially not from someone like Pei Tinglan.

He’s too good at packaging danger as a choice.

I pushed the glass to the center of the table.

“Explain.”

Pei Tinglan glanced at the Silver Ring.

“This isn’t a wedding ring, it’s a lock.”

“Lock what?”

“The Anchor’s senses, dreams, lifespan.”

A chill ran through my stomach.

“Once I put it on, I’m bound to you?”

“Bound to the Pei Family.”

He corrected quickly.

“Then why give it to me tonight?”

Pei Tinglan lowered his eyes.

“I wanted to see if you would wear it.”

I almost laughed out loud.

“Mr. Pei, that doesn’t sound very smart.”

“It wasn’t.”

He said, “At the time, I hoped you wouldn’t believe me.”

I looked at him.

This was absurd.

But it matched his preceding actions.

He gave me the Silver Ring, but didn’t force me to wear it; he locked the door, but left a casing that could be taken apart; he chased after me, but always kept three steps away.

He cast a net, but left an opening at every knot.

I asked, “What exactly do you want?”

Before Pei Tinglan could answer, a loud bang came from outside the window.

The alarm from the dock sounded.

The Old Steward’s voice came through the broadcast.

“High Tide is early. Initiate Return-to-Sea Protocol.”

Pei Tinglan’s expression changed.

Before I could react, he had already rushed into the lounge and grabbed my wrist.

His palm was as cold as the sea floor.

“Run.”