“I-I think so,” he said. “But—what did I do to them?”

We looked over to where Amanda and Abigail were wrestling with their escorts, and Mary Beth was using her ladle to great effect on the owner of the Dixie Bean.

“You made them Paladins,” Blythe said from the bed.

I had almost forgotten about her. She sat in the middle, legs crossed, hands clasped under her chin, grinning like a little kid. “I told you the ritual would work,” she said. “You made Paladins, just like Alaric! And this is merely a handful of girls. If you had focused harder and if I hadn’t been interrupted”—she glared at me—“you could’ve made this entire town an army. The whole state, if we tried hard enough.”

Breathing hard, David stared at her. His eyes were still filled with light, the effect disturbing. “Why would I want that?”

Giggling, Blythe shook her head. “Oh, if you knew what was coming, you wouldn’t ask a question like that.”

I stood up, reaching under my dress for the knife strapped to my thigh. I was officially over Blythe. Whipping out the blade, I made my way to the bed, but I only got about three steps when a vise-like grip closed around my wrist.

I glanced back, stunned. “Bee?”

She blinked at me. “I . . . I can’t let you hurt her. I don’t know why, but I can’t.”

Mary Beth was at my other side, her fingers tight on my arm. “Me, either. If you try to kill her . . .” She didn’t finish, but her hands squeezed tighter. Even Amanda and Abigail were standing by the door, eyes wary.

Delighted, Blythe clapped her hands. “Even better! See, Paladins can’t harm their creator. And since I had a hand in turning David into a personal Paladin factory, that makes me a creator!”

“Bee,” I pleaded. “Override it or something. I can’t let her go.”

Everything in Bee’s face was anguished. “I really want to, Harper, but I can’t. Now please put the knife away or I’m going to have to hurt you, and I really don’t want to.” Tears pooled in her eyes, spilling down her cheeks. “Except I do want to. What the heck is going on?”

“It’s going to be okay,” I told her. “This is what I am. This is what I haven’t been telling you, but now you know! And now you’re one, too, and we can train together. But let me take care of—”

I didn’t finish the words before Bee wrenched my arm, throwing me off balance. With a well-placed kick to my chest, she sent me tumbling back against the bed. “Oh God!” she cried. “Harper, I’m sorry, I didn’t mean—”

“It’s all right,” I told her, even as I wheezed for breath. “We can fix this.”