Chap­ter 10 unfolds with Teal in a sit­u­a­tion that caus­es her inner con­flict as she vis­its Nova’s home, ini­tial­ly plan­ning only to bor­row clothes. How­ev­er, it becomes clear that Nova’s house is not just a pit stop, but also a gath­er­ing spot for her friends, Hol­ly and Maren, who seem eager to hear about Teal’s expe­ri­ences with Bran­thor. The warm atmos­phere in the kitchen, full of friend­ly ban­ter, con­trasts with Teal’s grow­ing unease as the girls press her for details about the pre­vi­ous night with Bran­thor. Teal reluc­tant­ly shares that, despite the close­ness they had shared, Bran­thor refused to sleep next to her and made it clear that if it weren’t for Nova’s inter­ven­tion, he would have sent her away to the Tem­ple. The rev­e­la­tion of his reluc­tance to com­mit in such a defin­i­tive way stirs a mix of con­fu­sion and frus­tra­tion with­in Teal, espe­cial­ly when she sees Branthor’s inter­nal strug­gle in the back­ground of their rela­tion­ship.

Maren, ever the opti­mist, brush­es off Teal’s con­cerns, reas­sur­ing her that Bran­thor wouldn’t actu­al­ly go through with send­ing her away. Hol­ly and Maren assert that, despite Branthor’s resis­tance, it is clear to them that he is infat­u­at­ed with Teal. Their words, though com­fort­ing, do lit­tle to erase Teal’s skep­ti­cism about Branthor’s inten­tions. In their attempt to light­en the mood, Hol­ly and Maren share some light-heart­ed and play­ful advice, sug­gest­ing that uncon­ven­tion­al moves, such as climb­ing on Bran­thor or sur­pris­ing him with unex­pect­ed ges­tures, might ignite the spark of pas­sion between them. Teal, some­what amused by their sug­ges­tions, finds her­self imag­in­ing the play­ful and bold actions they describe, won­der­ing if these actions could some­how bridge the dis­tance she feels between her and Bran­thor. The humor­ous exchange opens Teal’s mind to new pos­si­bil­i­ties, and despite her reser­va­tions, she becomes curi­ous about how such spon­ta­neous actions might affect their dynam­ic.

The mood shifts slight­ly when Nova leads Teal to her impres­sive walk-in clos­et, invit­ing her to explore new wardrobe options. Teal, who is ini­tial­ly hes­i­tant, unsure of how she will look or how reveal­ing the clothes might be, is slow­ly coaxed into try­ing them on. Nova encour­ages her with such enthu­si­asm that Teal gives in and tries on a short flo­ral dress, a choice that feels bold com­pared to what she’s worn before. As she stands in front of the mir­ror, she’s sur­prised by how dif­fer­ent she feels in the dress, and the reac­tions from Hol­ly and Maren are imme­di­ate and encour­ag­ing. They urge her to wear the dress, believ­ing that it will catch Branthor’s atten­tion in the best way, and Teal, feel­ing sup­port­ed by her friends’ enthu­si­asm, starts to enter­tain the idea. The cama­raderie between the girls strength­ens, and Teal begins to feel more con­fi­dent and empow­ered, not just by their play­ful ban­ter, but by the real­iza­tion that she doesn’t have to face this jour­ney alone.

When Bran­thor arrives and sees Teal in the dress, his reac­tion is swift and telling. He is momen­tar­i­ly speech­less, his eyes reveal­ing a sense of sur­prise and admi­ra­tion for her appear­ance. The shift in his demeanor doesn’t go unno­ticed by Teal, and she feels a mix of tri­umph and vul­ner­a­bil­i­ty as she watch­es him process the sight of her in the dress. This moment, though seem­ing­ly small, feels like a turn­ing point, as it sig­ni­fies a shift in their con­nec­tion. For Teal, it becomes clear that her appear­ance and the way she presents her­self do influ­ence Bran­thor, at least momen­tar­i­ly, and she won­ders if this could be the begin­ning of her abil­i­ty to change his feel­ings toward her. The ten­sion between desire and doubt fills the air as they exchange glances, and Teal is left with the uncer­tain­ty of whether this small vic­to­ry is enough to tru­ly bring Bran­thor clos­er to her.

As the evening unfolds, Teal’s inter­nal strug­gle grows stronger. While she longs for Branthor’s affec­tion and recog­ni­tion, she can­not ignore the com­plex­i­ty of their rela­tion­ship and the lay­ers of doubt that still linger in her heart. The play­ful exchange with Nova and her friends, along with the excite­ment of the dress, offers a brief respite from the uncer­tain­ty she feels about her future with Bran­thor. How­ev­er, as she heads out­side with him, her mind races, filled with ques­tions about their con­nec­tion and whether she tru­ly has the pow­er to shape the future of their rela­tion­ship. Teal’s curios­i­ty about Branthor’s feel­ings for her grows, but she is still unsure of what lies ahead, won­der­ing if the con­nec­tion they share is enough to over­come the obsta­cles that stand in their way. This chap­ter high­lights Teal’s vul­ner­a­bil­i­ty, her desires, and her inter­nal con­flict about her place in Branthor’s life, set­ting the stage for fur­ther emo­tion­al growth and dis­cov­ery.