Chap­ter 13 explores the emo­tion­al and moral tur­moil Bran­thor faces as he con­tem­plates Teal’s pas­sion­ate desire for inti­ma­cy. Teal, with her cap­ti­vat­ing blue-green eyes and her vul­ner­a­ble, naked form, stands before Bran­thor, chal­leng­ing him to con­front his deep­est fears and desires. He is torn between his attrac­tion to her and his inter­nal resis­tance to the idea of phys­i­cal inti­ma­cy, espe­cial­ly giv­en the com­plex and uncer­tain nature of their rela­tion­ship. Despite his inner con­flict, Bran­thor main­tains his resolve, ini­tial­ly telling Teal that they can­not move for­ward, pri­mar­i­ly due to the impend­ing vis­it to the Tem­ple. He is deeply aware of the stakes sur­round­ing their mar­riage and feels an over­whelm­ing sense of respon­si­bil­i­ty that push­es him to keep their bond at a dis­tance. How­ev­er, Teal coun­ters his objec­tions with an emo­tion­al plea, explain­ing that she has been wait­ing for this moment for five years—ever since she sent her blood to the Tem­ple to ini­ti­ate their union. Her words cause Bran­thor to pause, forc­ing him to reassess the depth of her com­mit­ment to him.

Teal’s open­ness about choos­ing this path at such a young age leaves Bran­thor stunned and full of ques­tions. The idea that an eigh­teen-year-old would con­scious­ly choose an arranged mar­riage with some­one like him—whom she knew would be seen as a monster—forces Bran­thor to ques­tion her moti­va­tions. He strug­gles with the impli­ca­tions of her deci­sion, feel­ing both hon­ored by her ded­i­ca­tion yet con­fused by the com­plex­i­ty of her feel­ings toward him. Despite this, Teal insists that their bond is unique and that she has always known that he was the one she was meant to be with. Her strong con­vic­tion and unwa­ver­ing con­fi­dence in their con­nec­tion chal­lenge Branthor’s doubts. He acknowl­edges the role his broth­ers played in orches­trat­ing their match, yet he can­not com­plete­ly accept that this is the life that is meant for him. Bran­thor finds him­self at a cross­roads, uncer­tain about whether he should ful­ly embrace the life Teal is offer­ing or con­tin­ue reject­ing it in favor of the future he had once imag­ined for him­self.

As Teal press­es for­ward, express­ing her desire to spend the night with him, Bran­thor is torn between his sense of duty and his unde­ni­able attrac­tion to her. He attempts to rea­son with her, warn­ing that los­ing her vir­gin­i­ty would have seri­ous con­se­quences, par­tic­u­lar­ly regard­ing the Temple’s DNA match­ing sys­tem, which could poten­tial­ly block any future rela­tion­ships for her. Teal, how­ev­er, is res­olute, dis­miss­ing his con­cerns and declar­ing that her only match is Bran­thor, and she has no inter­est in any­one else. Her words hit Bran­thor like a wave, leav­ing him both hum­bled and stunned by her cer­tain­ty. He can feel the warmth of her pres­ence and the unde­ni­able chem­istry between them, yet he remains trapped by his fear of mak­ing the wrong deci­sion. Unable to meet her gaze for fear of giv­ing in, he strug­gles inter­nal­ly, unsure of how to pro­ceed with­out jeop­ar­diz­ing both their futures.

Teal’s per­sis­tent entreaties push Bran­thor to con­front his emo­tions head-on, forc­ing him to eval­u­ate what inti­ma­cy and com­mit­ment tru­ly mean to him. She longs for a shared expe­ri­ence with him, even if it is tem­po­rary, and her request strikes at the heart of his hes­i­ta­tion. Teal’s vul­ner­a­bil­i­ty and sin­cer­i­ty chal­lenge his self-imposed bound­aries, mak­ing it increas­ing­ly dif­fi­cult for him to stay detached from the emo­tion­al and phys­i­cal con­nec­tion between them. Final­ly, with a mix of reluc­tance and yearn­ing, Bran­thor decides to take the bold step of pour­ing oil into his palm, sig­nal­ing that he is will­ing to take a leap of faith in their shared des­tiny. This act marks the piv­otal moment where duty and desire col­lide, and the air between them becomes charged with antic­i­pa­tion. The ten­sion is pal­pa­ble as they stand on the thresh­old of cross­ing the line from emo­tion­al con­nec­tion to phys­i­cal inti­ma­cy, with both char­ac­ters uncer­tain of what the future holds. This chap­ter por­trays the com­plex­i­ty of their rela­tion­ship, illus­trat­ing how Branthor’s inter­nal con­flict slow­ly dis­solves, giv­ing way to a deep­er, more pro­found bond that chal­lenges both their lives in unex­pect­ed ways. The emo­tion­al stakes are high, as both char­ac­ters must nav­i­gate their inse­cu­ri­ties and desires to move for­ward in their rela­tion­ship, set­ting the stage for the pro­found changes that lie ahead.