Chap­ter 5 delves into Teal’s dis­com­fort as she finds her­self at the cen­ter of atten­tion dur­ing a gath­er­ing, hid­den with­in a birth­day cake. Every­one’s gaze is fixed on her, mak­ing the sit­u­a­tion all the more embar­rass­ing, and she silent­ly wish­es for Bran­thor to acknowl­edge her as his bride. As she strug­gles to fit in amidst the cel­e­bra­tion, she feels dis­placed, her heart pound­ing with both excite­ment and anx­i­ety. When Bran­thor steps toward her, his deep green eyes scan her with a look that mir­rors her own dis­com­fort. He offers his hand, and Teal, feel­ing a sense of both relief and hes­i­ta­tion, reach­es out to take it, voic­ing her desire to escape the cake with­out caus­ing a scene.

As Bran­thor lifts her effort­less­ly from the cake, his strength is evi­dent, high­light­ing the notice­able dif­fer­ence in their phys­i­cal sizes. Teal, small and del­i­cate in com­par­i­son to his tow­er­ing pres­ence, can’t help but be both fas­ci­nat­ed and slight­ly over­whelmed by his fig­ure. Bran­thor, a gren­del with strik­ing dark hair and those intense green eyes, pos­sess­es a com­mand­ing pres­ence, which both draws Teal in and makes her ques­tion her own posi­tion. She strug­gles with how she views him—his beau­ty is unde­ni­able, but his phys­i­cal dom­i­nance and strength are intim­i­dat­ing, leav­ing her feel­ing small and unsure of her­self.

Their inter­ac­tion is filled with awk­ward paus­es as they nav­i­gate the new­ness of their rela­tion­ship, unsure of how to move for­ward. Bran­thor tries to make her feel com­fort­able, even offer­ing a chair for her to sit in, but the moment becomes unex­pect­ed­ly com­i­cal when he choos­es one that’s much too high for her. They share a brief, light-heart­ed laugh, but it helps break the ten­sion, and Teal begins to accli­mate to her new envi­ron­ment. As the con­ver­sa­tion shifts, Teal is intro­duced to the oth­er women in the fam­i­ly, such as Nova and Maren, who imme­di­ate­ly make her feel wel­come. The gen­uine warmth they extend helps ease her anx­i­ety, mak­ing the tran­si­tion into this new fam­i­ly feel less daunt­ing.

The atmos­phere around the table is filled with laugh­ter and live­ly chat­ter, allow­ing Teal to relax and observe the bond between the women. The sense of com­mu­ni­ty she expe­ri­ences is a stark con­trast to what she has known in the past, and she finds her­self yearn­ing to belong in this new world. Her desire to con­nect with Bran­thor deep­ens as she sees the gen­uine affec­tion between the peo­ple around her. How­ev­er, despite the warmth and cama­raderie, she still feels a qui­et fear about her place in the fam­i­ly and her future with Bran­thor. She longs for reas­sur­ance from him, hop­ing that their rela­tion­ship will grow into some­thing deep­er.

Amidst the joy­ful con­ver­sa­tions and deli­cious food, Teal can’t shake the feel­ing that Bran­thor is not ful­ly present, his qui­et demeanor mak­ing her uneasy. His pre­oc­cu­pied expres­sions raise doubts in her mind, leav­ing her won­der­ing about the true nature of their mar­riage and whether it will last. The mem­o­ry of the mar­riage con­tract signed by his broth­er Kairos looms in her mind, a reminder of the oblig­a­tions they both face and the uncer­tain­ty of their future togeth­er. Bran­thor’s behav­ior makes Teal ques­tion her role in this rela­tion­ship, and she starts to won­der if the con­nec­tion they share is as sol­id as it seems.

As the evening con­tin­ues, Teal reflects on her emo­tions, torn between the warmth of the new fam­i­ly she’s joined and the lin­ger­ing doubt about her future with Bran­thor. The sense of belong­ing that she craves remains elu­sive, and the uncer­tain­ty of what lies ahead weighs heav­i­ly on her heart. Despite the grow­ing affec­tion she feels for Bran­thor, she can’t ignore the lin­ger­ing ques­tions about their mar­riage and the role that the con­tract plays in shap­ing their future. This chap­ter por­trays the com­plex­i­ty of Teal’s emo­tions, as she nav­i­gates the chal­lenges of adjust­ing to a new life while grap­pling with the uncer­tain­ty of her rela­tion­ship with Bran­thor.