“No,” I interrupted. “That’s what ‘rethink stuff’ means, David. And it means you’re letting the Paladin/Oracle thing get all tangled up with everything else we are.”

David laughed, but there was no humor in the sound. “It’s already all tangled up, Pres. It always has been, and it’s making both of us crazy.”

Now David’s arms were tight across his chest, too. “You can’t quit being my Paladin, and I can’t quit being an Oracle, but maybe until all this is sorted with the Peirasmos and Alexander and Bee—”

“What does Bee have to do with this?” I asked, shading my eyes against the sun. It was warm out here by the side of the road, and I could feel sweat on my forehead, behind my knees. My stomach ached, and my chest hurt. From the pained look on his face, I thought David might be feeling something similar.

“She’s wrapped up in this, too. Which, let me remind you, is another thing that I might have been able to see coming if you hadn’t screwed around with my powers. Maybe I could have looked for her, or we could’ve brought her back sooner.”

I stepped closer to him, wishing I could at least poke him in the chest or something. I’d have to settle for saying all the hostile stuff I wanted. “Are you suggesting that what happened to Bee was my fault?”

A car drove by, sending up a cloud of dust, and David glared at me. “You know I don’t think that.”

But I did. That was the problem. If I’d told Bee the truth from the beginning, if I’d been faster at Cotillion, if I’d tried to do something to keep her from even going to Cotillion.

If I hadn’t been so scared of my boyfriend turning into a monster that I’d kept him from using powers that maybe could’ve seen her.

Could’ve saved her.

“Harper,” David said, his voice quieter now. “Why can’t you admit that you can’t do everything?” He sounded so much like the David Stark I’d fought with for all those years that it was hard to believe I’d kissed him just yesterday. That I’d loved him.

“You can’t let go of anything, can you, Harper? You can’t admit that maybe some things are too much for you. You can’t be Homecoming Queen, and Paladin, and SGA president, and my girlfriend—”

I spun away from him, heading for the car. “Yeah, well, we can go ahead and strike one of those from the list, no problem.”

With an aggrieved sound, David caught my elbow, pulling me up short. “I don’t want to break up.”

I stepped back, shaking my head. “Too late.”

With that, I stomped back to the car, my throat tight, my eyes stinging.