Read Cast in Hellfire: An Urban Fantasy Romance (The Mage Craft Series Book 2) for Free Online

boyfriend—uh, Prince ErlKonig, he’s from the Autumn Court—has been arranging a camp while we sort everyone out. We have food and beds right now.” She watched him finish eating. Her smile was gone. She looked so sad. “There are convoys taking refugees right now. Will you go with one?”
    “Yeah, I guess so.”
    Too tired to stand, he remained limp as Marion gathered him into her arms. Ymir was tall, but she was taller. She easily put his weight on her hip. It was a relief to wrap his arms around her neck and rest his head on her shoulder.
    Marion carried him through the inn. He tensed initially at the sight of the sidhe soldiers sitting around the dining room, but they were unseelie—creatures of the Autumn Court, judging by the brassy tones of their hair and skin. Marion had been telling the truth.
    The Summer Court’s invaders were gone.
    A woman rushed through the crowd to meet them. “My lady!” She stopped short. “Who’s this?”
    “This is my new friend Ymir,” Marion said, shifting his weight onto her other hip. “I’m going to take him with me to Niflheimr. And please, Nori, I’ve told you—don’t call me that. It’s weird.”
    “Sorry.” Nori’s attention had already shifted away from Ymir. “There’s someone waiting for you at your home in Victoria.”
    “They’ll have to wait. I’m meeting with the angels tonight in Niflheimr. Remember? And I have to get the refugees settled into their new homes.”
    Nori followed Marion and Ymir outside. The wind blasted over them, relentlessly cold. Marion shivered. “My lady ,” Nori said admonishingly, throwing furs over Marion.
    “What did I just tell you?” Marion asked.
    They bickered good-naturedly while Ymir stared over Marion’s shoulder. The inn was at the top of the cornice under the frozen waterfall, which meant that Ymir could see all the way down into the village of Leiptr. It was under complete occupation by the Autumn Court now. In truth, it didn’t look all that different having the streets crawling with unseelie rather than seelie; the power of their magic had the same distorting effect.
    Yet the army of the Autumn Court—Marion’s army—wasn’t burning the city. They weren’t slaughtering. They were loading survivors into trucks.
    “But really, Marion,” Nori said, her more serious tone catching Ymir’s attention again, “I think you’ll want to attend to this visitor.” She lowered her voice until Ymir could barely hear her over the wind. “It’s Luke.”
    Marion stiffened against Ymir. “Seth?”
    “Seth, Luke, whatever. He’s at your house. He wants to talk to you.”
    “I see,” she said. Marion set Ymir in the back of the covered truck. Her cheeks had gone red with cold, the tips of her hair gathering snow, but she still smiled at him. “Ymir, it seems I have to take care of some things. I’m going to send you to Niflheimr ahead of me. My friends will take very good care of you, though.”
    “You’re leaving me?” Ymir asked.
    She ruffled his hair again. “I’ll be back.” Marion leaned around him and dragged a box toward the end of the pickup. “In the meantime, help yourself. Eat until you’re sick.”
    It was filled with insulated bottles of water, tins of fish, and more granola bars. Ymir’s eyes went so wide that it felt like they might pop out of his head.
    Marion summoned an adult refugee to the truck. “Will you make sure Ymir is okay on the way to Niflheimr?”
    The other refugee was a burly, opal-fleshed unseelie with teeth that were eerily white against the blackness of his lips. Ymir didn’t think there was a chance that the man would willingly associate with a frost giant. He looked like one of the gentry—the highest caste of sidhe. The gentry would have nothing to do with those who were unlike them.
    But to Ymir’s surprise, the man said, “Yes, of course. I’d be happy to.” That was when Ymir noticed two little girls waiting nearby. He had daughters who must have been