spent months tending to the wounded with Estella by his side. Death supposed it was natural that the young girl wanted to help others.
Morgan didn’t bother knocking. He pushed the office door in and waved at them. “Lunch for two. I have someone’s favorite vegetable stew.”
Wyatt set his tablet down and made grabby hands. “Give me that bowl. Gods, that smell is heavenly.” He narrowed his eyes on Estella. “Why aren’t you at class?”
Estella shrugged. Her curly brown hair was cut short and surrounded her head like a soft halo, while her small brown horns poked through. “Instructor Delri said I could assist you today for my last class since I’ve already completed all the work for her course.”
Wyatt’s eyes softened. “Estella, love, did she suggest it, or did you insist?”
Estella gave him a guilty look. “I may have told her Grandad wanted my help, and I may have implied he would be mad if I wasn’t allowed to go.”
Death hid a smile. He wasn’t pleased that decent people feared him, but he was happy to have Estella with him.
“I need Estella to clean and sterilize the lab equipment in room one, so we can run another test.” Death ignored Wyatt’s glare. “Remember to calibrate the equipment and go ahead and set it up when you’re done. I’ll look over everything before we begin the test.”
Estella grinned and leaned up to kiss his cheek. “Thanks, Grandad.”
Morgan snickered as he set a closed container on Death’s desk. “You’re in so much trouble, Verion.”
Wyatt’s glare went to Morgan. “You’re the one who picked her up from school.”
“Delri didn’t want to call you because you work with him,” Morgan whispered and pointed toward Death, eyes dancing with laughter. “He’s scary.”
“I’m quite frightening,” Death agreed, nodding. In truth, he could kill every person on the station in a matter of seconds, and Charybdis Station’s inhabitants had seen exactly what Death could do during one of the attacks on the station. He had harvested the souls of an entire fleet, leaving each person an empty, barely breathing, husk. I suppose that isn’t very easy to forget.
Wyatt rolled his eyes. “To our enemies. Unless Delri decides to attack Estella, she’s safe from you. I really wish people wouldn’t act like you’re a rabid dog that will attack any moment. It’s starting to get annoying.”
“That’s the truth.” Morgan sat in Death’s chair and spun himself around. “Some of the new recruits I’m training get all petrified when one of us mentions your name. Granted, you go by Death to most, so I guess that’s intimidating.”
“I didn’t choose it. People could call me Verion or Dr. Morrick if they wanted,” Death pointed out and picked up his stew. It did smell delicious, and he recognized the Juniper’s Diner logo. I hope Gloria is cooking today. She makes the best stew.
He took a bite. Gloria was definitely the one on shift at the diner.
“Still, people need to stop being afraid of Dad.” Wyatt’s lip trembled when his bowl of stew emptied.
Death put his own bowl in front of his son and smiled when Wyatt’s eyes lit up and he started eating again.
The vid-com on the wall above his desk lit up with an incoming call, and Morgan leaned forward to accept it.
Death scowled when he saw King Xaran’s annoyingly smug face. No one was supposed to allow the Dramiad king’s calls through. I’ll be firing another assistant today. The king had already bribed his way past three.
“Dr. Morrick, why is that man sitting at your desk?” Xaran gave Morgan a disgruntled look. “I would think his antagonizing presence affects your productivity. He was certainly annoying when you were here on Dramacus.”
Xaran looked much healthier now that Death and Wyatt had managed to create a treatment to help with the symptoms of Pleuli Feciose. A cure was still a long way off, but the symptoms were what killed the patient. Xaran’s light green skin and purple markings glowed with health, and he’d managed to put weight and muscle back on his tall frame.
“Who I allow in my office is no concern of yours,” Death said, voice abrupt. “What do you want?”
Xaran narrowed his eyes. “You should be glad of my call, hybrid. Fasi Juren may let you mouth off to him, but I will have your respect.”
“Earn it.” Death stood behind Morgan and braced his hands on his son-in-law’s shoulders. He liked Morgan, even when he was annoying. “What do you want?”
“Your progress report is late.”
“I sent it yesterday. Check