"You are right. He does have a heart." Reed agreed before he elaborated "His heart is yours. The only real emotion he shows is with you or when is talking about you. Which he does all the time. That is the only time he says more than a few words."

"He does have emotions." I bit out.

At that moment I swore I could hear the sound of bones being broken and by the crowd shouting the name of the blacksmith God, I assumed it was Stone doing the breaking.

The Stone that I knew was kind and funny and considerate but that was not the Stone the world knew. I wondered what version of him was the true one or if any of them were. I wondered if my version was a lie.

I thought he had opened up to me, but he had not. I wondered how much of it was a lie.

I knew something was up with him at the start. I knew it in my gut, but I overlooked it because I grew to trust him.

I had made a mistake. I should have continued to act oblivious to his shows of affection. I should have ignored my own.

Reed shook his head like he knew what I was thinking about "The official first night of all this was the night you met him. He came here after meeting you and everyone thought he had undergone some kind of voodoo spell. Stone went from a heartless bastard to a heartless bastard in love. He has never been the same since."

I shook my head "He has kept this from me the whole time. He had gone out of his way to keep me from the truth."

"We have an unofficial motto of Litora Bello, but everybody knows it." The red-haired guy smiled, and it looked sad "Ella venit primus."

"What does that mean?"

"Rough translation, it means Ella comes first." Reed explained, "He has ditched coming here a couple of times just to be with you."

I did not want to hear anymore but Reed continued to defend Stone.

"Stone said that you are more like a God than him. More than anyone. A Goddess." He laughed quietly before he spoke again "He said that Ella has a big heart. If you are nice to her then she will protect and love, you with everything in her but if you get on the wrong side of Drizella Miller then you will have to face her wrath. The way he talks about makes me think that you are actually a divine being."

Suddenly the crowd went silent.

My original response was lost when I turned to Reed and questioned "What is happening?"

His explanation was in Latin "Pugna Ad Mortem."

"English please."

"The fight to the death." He replied while getting out his phone and typing something "In other words, one guy leaves the fight victorious and the other unconscious."