Free Three Days of Night by Tracey H. Kitts Page A

said.
    Max was breathing hard, like he’d been running. He placed a hand over his heart.
    “Yes. Somewhere back down the line.” He paused to take a few more deep breaths. “My great-great … hell, I forget how great. Anyway, he was Icarum.”
    The Icarum were a race of winged people who lived on Icknar. That’s where we were supposed to have made port, but couldn’t quite make the jump.
    “Well, that would explain your good looks.”
    His smile had the same effect it did earlier, only this time I did sigh. He was gorgeous.
    “I take it you didn’t inherit wings?”
    “Hud lets me have them from time to time. He said he could make them permanent if that’s what I wanted. I haven’t made up my mind. I love to fly, but they sort of get in my way.”
    That was awfully nice of him, to give wings to someone who didn’t inherit them.
    “Does he do things like that for everyone?” I couldn’t stop myself from asking.
    Max shook his head. “No. I helped him out when he first took power. He offered me the wings as a favor.”
    I was still thinking over what he’d said when Max put his hand on my chin and tilted my face upward.
    “You’ve got a thing for him, don’t you?”
    “For who, Hud?”
    “I thought you had something going on with Jester for sure. But when I look at you, at how you react to just the mention of his name. Hmm. I’d say you’ve got a thing for Hud.”
    I took his hand gently and lowered it from my face.
    “You’re right, Max.”
    “About which one?”
    I stood on tiptoe and gave him a chaste kiss. “Thank you.”
    As I turned to leave he said, “Aren’t you going to tell me?”
    “Both.”

Chapter Seven
     
    It had been a while since I’d had Icarum blood. It’s subtle yet sweet flavor was one of the greater pleasures in life as far as I was concerned. Even the trace of it in Max’s blood had been wonderful.
    I looked up at the two moons and wondered if the entire planet would remain dark while I was here, or only the artificial environment Hud had created underground. I had seen other artificial environments before, but they were obviously fake. The only way I knew this one wasn’t real was because there simply couldn’t be a sun and moon underground. You could even feel the wind in your face, smell the familiar scents of night. I guess it was magic.
    Dirt stirred around my boots as I made my way back to the other end of town. I remembered reading that djinn were considered all-powerful. Supposedly, they had been enslaved in order to keep them from taking over the universe. Myths and legends had always gotten my attention. When I read this back on Earth, I just assumed it was bullshit. Very creative, but still bullshit. I knew that magic was real, that wizards, like Morgan, were real. I even believed that the djinn had existed. I just didn’t believe that “all-powerful” crap. Perhaps I was mistaken.
    It seemed like forever until I got past the boundaries of the underground market and Hud’s palace came into view. To say that I was in turmoil was such an understatement. Maybe if I just talked to Morgan about all of this he could help to clear things up. We hadn’t exactly been close, but we’d worked together and were on friendly terms for the past ten years. I trusted Morgan when it came to making decisions, at least business decisions. Even though he acted recklessly sometimes with his own safety, he always had his heart in the right place when it came to his colleagues.
    But, that was business. This was definitely not business or any other logical thing that I could reason out. Shit. What was I going to do? Hud said these three days were to give me clarity. I could start with clearing my head. As I walked I started to take deep breaths. That always worked to calm me when I was alive and it still had a strong psychological effect now.
    For the first time I really noticed how wonderful everything around me was. Hud’s palace sat right in the middle of what looked like