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pain up his arm. Only a fool pined after what he could never have. He should have realized that attending the Gathering would remind him of his first meeting with the Seelie king’s daughter. He was a bloody masochist.
    * * *
    Nightshade woke to the high-pitched sound of girlish giggles. He blinked, groaning as pain shot through his head. His mouth tasted like the inside of a boot, yet his body hummed as though an electric current buzzed along his nerves.
    Raising himself on an elbow among the pillows, he gazed around himself. The mingled scents of sex, incense, and burning oil hung in the air. He vaguely remembered Devin cavorting naked with a trio of women last night, but what in the Furies had happened to him? He’d bitten Troy; now he felt as though someone had kicked him in the head and then trampled on his body. He wanted to flop back onto the cushions, but his stomach rumbled. He supposed he’d better get something to eat.
    Outside the tent he found Devin reclining on a purple silk swing eating spicy meatballs and couscous. At his feet sat three women garbed in turquoise, pink, and emerald dresses trimmed with gold thread and sparkling jewels. Their heads were covered and the lower parts of their faces veiled. All three turned inquisitive dark eyes on him as he approached.
    Nightshade stiffened under their scrutiny. He remembered them touching him. But delicate, fluttery women who looked as though they would break made him uncomfortable, and an image of Ruby dressed in her tight top and shorts, threatening him with the baseball bat, flashed into his mind. He pushed the memory away. He refused to think about her after she had rejected him so harshly.
    Devin gave him a wry grin and signaled to a man crouching by the cooking pot to load another plate. “You’re back in the land of the living, I see.”
    The women whispered behind their hands, giggling. Devin barked a command and clapped, sending the females scampering back into the tent, trailing bright gauzy veils likeexotic butterflies. Some of the tension eased from Nightshade’s shoulders once they were gone, and he dropped onto the swing seat at Devin’s side to tuck into his food.
    “We missed all the excitement last night,” Devin announced. “A minor deity, the Mistress of the Beasts, died with no known heir to inherit her power, and the king of the Unseelie Court has offered a reward to anyone who finds her female descendants. She didn’t have any daughters, but she had one son—Kade, a Seelie hunter. The way he puts it about, he must have fathered a daughter somewhere. So the contest is on between the blessed and unblessed courts to see who can control the next Mistress of the Beasts.”
    Nightshade grunted in response. He had no interest in Scottish Fairy Court politics. Unpleasant experiences in the Irish Fairy Court and the Welsh Fairy Court had taught him to stay well clear.
    “Do you feel different after taking Troy’s blood?” Devin asked, his expression curious.
    “I feel like crap. I’ve got a bloody hangover.” He winced at his own harsh tone. He sucked in a deep draught of cool woody air and strove to relax. “Sorry. I’ve had a bad couple of days.”
    “Let’s hear the details,” Devin encouraged with a suppressed grin.
    Nightshade set aside his plate and leaned back with a resigned sigh. His whole sorry tale would come out sometime, so he might as well face the embarrassment now. He related his last couple of days with the human named Ruby, leaving out the part about falling through her roof after being hit in the face by a bird. He could only tolerate so much humiliation at one time. When he’d finished, he looked up to find the djinn struggling to suppress his mirth.
    “Listen, stalker. The last thing you want to mention when you’re about to get lucky with a lady is babies. Talk about killing the mood!”
    “But both your half brothers’ women had babies quickly.”
    “Yes, but I bet neither Michael nor Niall mentioned