In Chap­ter Eight, titled “Teal,” the pro­tag­o­nist wakes up ear­ly, feel­ing a mix of excite­ment and anx­i­ety about con­vinc­ing Bran­thor to pur­sue their rela­tion­ship fur­ther. Despite her small stature com­pared to his giant frame, she believes they are made for each oth­er, espe­cial­ly after shar­ing a pas­sion­ate kiss that indi­cat­ed a con­nec­tion. Teal reflects on the impend­ing return to the Tem­ple, where she fears being vul­ner­a­ble and the poten­tial fall­out of her choic­es, espe­cial­ly con­cern­ing finan­cial issues relat­ed to Bran­thor’s arranged mar­riage.

Teal’s deter­mi­na­tion pro­pels her to make bold moves, lead­ing her to step out of the bath nude, ful­ly aware of the impact her body might have on Bran­thor. When he knocks and steps inside with­out wait­ing for an invi­ta­tion, his reac­tion to her naked­ness reveals his attrac­tion to her. They engage in a flir­ty con­ver­sa­tion; Teal learns he has pre­pared break­fast, which pleas­es her. She teas­ing­ly seeks a morn­ing kiss but encoun­ters Bran­thor’s hes­i­ta­tion, as he strug­gles with his feel­ings and the impli­ca­tions of their sit­u­a­tion.

Despite his resis­tance, Teal bold­ly touch­es him, rec­og­niz­ing the phys­i­cal ten­sion between them. Bran­thor grap­ples with his emo­tions and his stat­ed unwill­ing­ness to take a bride. Nev­er­the­less, Teal is con­fi­dent in their chem­istry, lead­ing Bran­thor to admit that she is right about his attrac­tion. Just as he appears to yield to temp­ta­tion, Teal pulls away, main­tain­ing the play­ful dynam­ic while sug­gest­ing they have break­fast out­side.

Bran­thor sug­gests eat­ing on the porch, and Teal eager­ly antic­i­pates the oppor­tu­ni­ty to admire his gar­den, believ­ing she has made a good impres­sion with her play­ful and con­fi­dent demeanor. As the chap­ter con­cludes, Teal dress­es in Bran­thor’s over­sized shirt, feel­ing opti­mistic about how the morn­ing is unfold­ing and the poten­tial for their rela­tion­ship to grow. Her con­fi­dence and charm seem to be paving a promis­ing path for­ward with Bran­thor.