In Chap­ter 7, Teal faces the painful real­i­ty that Bran­thor, despite his tow­er­ing pres­ence and gen­tle nature, has no inter­est in her as a poten­tial bride. The harsh truth hangs in the air, and yet Teal remains deter­mined, refus­ing to give up on the pos­si­bil­i­ty of forg­ing a mean­ing­ful con­nec­tion with him. Her resolve grows stronger as she sits by the warmth of the fire­place with Bran­thor, their glass­es of wine in hand, qui­et­ly con­tem­plat­ing how to break down the emo­tion­al bar­ri­ers between them. As they share the evening, she begins to sense a ten­der­ness in Branthor’s demeanor, one that sharply con­trasts his impos­ing fig­ure, and it fills her with an unex­pect­ed sense of safe­ty and calm that she has nev­er felt before.

Teal takes it upon her­self to steer the con­ver­sa­tion for­ward, reveal­ing her love for read­ing, par­tic­u­lar­ly adven­ture nov­els. This deep pas­sion for lit­er­a­ture was nur­tured by her moth­er, and the mem­o­ries of read­ing togeth­er are some­thing she holds dear. Her words about her moth­er are laced with a mix­ture of nos­tal­gia and sad­ness, hint­ing at the loss of such an impor­tant fig­ure in her life. Bran­thor, for his part, shares some­thing quite dif­fer­ent but no less personal—his love for gar­den­ing. The sim­plic­i­ty and qui­et nature of grow­ing fruits and nur­tur­ing plants reveal a nur­tur­ing side to him that Teal finds both sur­pris­ing and endear­ing. Their dia­logue con­tin­ues to unfold nat­u­ral­ly, as they talk about the shared expe­ri­ence of los­ing their par­ents. This exchange becomes a moment of deep con­nec­tion, with both open­ing up about their grief and find­ing com­mon ground in their loss­es. In that shared vul­ner­a­bil­i­ty, a bond begins to form between them, some­thing that goes beyond the phys­i­cal and taps into an emo­tion­al close­ness nei­ther expect­ed.

As their con­ver­sa­tion deep­ens, the loom­ing real­i­ty of their sep­a­ra­tion weighs heav­i­ly on Teal’s mind. She can­not bring her­self to men­tion the fam­i­ly strug­gles that still haunt her, choos­ing instead to focus on the warmth of the con­nec­tion they are build­ing in the moment. The thought of their time togeth­er com­ing to an end the fol­low­ing day is a painful one, but she swal­lows it down in favor of pre­serv­ing the inti­ma­cy between them. As their dis­cus­sion turns more per­son­al, Branthor’s inse­cu­ri­ties sur­face, and he express­es his fear that his phys­i­cal strength and size could harm her. Teal reas­sures him with a gen­tle smile, con­vey­ing that his size does not fright­en her and that she feels safe in his pres­ence. This reas­sur­ance helps ease his anx­i­eties, and the emo­tion­al wall between them starts to crum­ble. Their grow­ing close­ness nat­u­ral­ly leads to a more inti­mate exchange, and Bran­thor, unable to resist the pull of their chem­istry, leans in for a kiss. The kiss begins soft but quick­ly inten­si­fies, stir­ring a whirl­wind of emo­tions in Teal. The pas­sion between them becomes pal­pa­ble, yet Branthor’s inter­nal con­flict takes hold—he fears that his strength could hurt her in ways he can­not con­trol. Reluc­tant­ly, he pulls away, leav­ing the moment sus­pend­ed in uncer­tain­ty.

The chap­ter clos­es on a ten­der note as Bran­thor care­ful­ly tucks Teal into bed, his actions a blend of care and hes­i­tance. His good­night is soft, his gaze lin­ger­ing on her, but the future between them remains unclear. The emo­tion­al con­nec­tion they’ve fos­tered is unde­ni­able, yet the unre­solved ten­sion about what lies ahead leaves both of them in a state of uncer­tain­ty. Teal is left to pon­der the moments they’ve shared, her mind rac­ing with ques­tions about what the next day will bring, while Bran­thor is left to wres­tle with his own doubts about the depth of his feel­ings and his abil­i­ty to tru­ly pro­tect her. The chap­ter ends with a qui­et ten­sion, a sense of antic­i­pa­tion build­ing for the uncer­tain path that lies ahead for both of them.