Elora’s POV
“Cael built this challenge for the team—to test whether we could actually trust one another,” Garrett went on.
“He wanted us thinking it’d be some ridiculous trial—fighting a bear, some monster.
But the only thing we’re fighting is ourselves.”
Varek scoffed and dropped his gaze to the ground.
Declan skipped the scoff, but his reaction was more or less the same.
These were people trained for every kind of physical fight.
The second it turned emotional, they had no idea what to do with themselves.
“Is there a way to stop it?” Declan asked, careful.
Garrett nodded.
“Yes.” He squeezed his eyes shut, and I already didn’t like where this was headed.
“The way to break the spell is to share your fears.
And your biggest secret.”
A collective sigh went around the fire as everyone grasped what was coming.
A knot tightened in my stomach at the thought of cracking myself open.
I’d always been a private person, and I wasn’t remotely ready to hand anything over.
But it didn’t matter.
The box demanded, and now we had to deliver.
I fidgeted with my hands, turning over my biggest secret.
What was my biggest secret?
For a second my mind flew to Varek—then I realized he wasn’t it.
He was a fear, and a secret, sure.
But not my biggest.
The voices had been circling my glasses.
The thing I’d been forced to hide behind my whole life.
My deepest insecurity.
A loud laugh cracked through the tension.
Varek.
“No.
No,” he said, the laughter only building.
He dropped his head into his hands and sighed.
“No.
I’m not doing this.”
Unease flickered in his eyes—and in Declan’s too, as he shifted beside him.
For all his kindness, Declan had never actually opened up about anything either.
All I knew about him were the basics.
Beta father, noble blood, nightmare of a sister.
“If you want to be captain,” Garrett said, “then I’m afraid you’ll have to.”
Varek chuckled.
“No.”
“We can be back before sunrise—but not while that box keeps talking to us.” Garrett didn’t give an inch.
Garrett had always been a serious person.
He didn’t always want to do a thing, but he’d do it if it needed doing.
He wasn’t one to take no for an answer, and everything had to go his way—which was exactly why most people found him impossible to be around.
This time, though, he was right.
“Garrett has a point,” I said.
Varek didn’t answer.
Didn’t growl, didn’t snap back, didn’t belittle me—because he was smart enough to know it was the truth.
“Thank you, Elora,” Garrett said.
“Your biggest secret.
Unfiltered, nothing but the truth—and it stays between the four of us.
We never tell a soul, and we never bring it up again.”
We all looked around at each other, nodding—even Varek, who suddenly didn’t seem all that untouchable anymore.
Garrett turned the box over in his hands, betraying nothing.
“I’ll go first.”
I braced myself for his biggest secret.
He wasn’t sharing it because he wanted to—no, we were all about to lay something deep and personal bare, because we had no choice.
Garrett’s eyes found mine.
“I resent you, Elora,” he said, without a single stutter.
“I resent you, and sometimes I just wish you were dead.”
My heart sank at the cold confession, though I hadn’t expected anything softer.
“I know,” I chuckled, hiding behind the ache.
“Everyone knows.
That’s not exactly a secret.”
“But you don’t know why.”
Did I want to know why?
“Growing up, I always felt overlooked by Dad,” Garrett said.
“You might not have noticed, but he always kept an eye on you.
Neglected me to do it, even though I’m his son.
It made me… jealous.
Angry.”