Chapter 23 – The Father-in-Law’s Blessing

【Esdeath PoV】

The temperature in my office had dropped to absolute zero.

Frost crawled across every surface like living crystal. My desk was encased in ice thick enough to stop bullets. The windows had frozen over completely, blocking out the afternoon sun. My breath came out in visible clouds despite the fact that cold never bothered me. The cold was the only thing keeping me sane right now.

I paced across the frozen floor, my heels clicking with each sharp step.

The sound echoed in the empty space, a rhythmic reminder of my fury. The security breach report sat on my desk, mocking me with its clinical language. Unauthorized dimensional breach. Prisoner transport violation. Massive structural damage to Sector Seven.

That wasn’t what had me spiraling though.

Thalia had kidnapped Kai for a romantic getaway.

A pocket dimension designed specifically for intimacy. The report mentioned a starlight bedroom setup, floating canopy beds, conjured fruit, ambient mood lighting. She’d put actual effort into planning it. She’d created an entire world just to spend time alone with him.

My hand went to my pocket automatically, fingers closing around the small action figure hidden there.

The plastic was cold against my palm. I’d commissioned it custom-made, spent an embarrassing amount of money on accuracy. It was pathetic. I had a doll while the monsters got the real man.

I pulled it out and stared at the tiny painted face.

“Unacceptable.”

My voice bounced off the frozen walls. I set the figure down on the windowsill with more care than I’d ever admit and resumed pacing. Professional conduct. Chain of command. Facility regulations. Those were my shields, the armor I wore to keep distance between myself and the truth.

The truth was I wanted to be the one kidnapping him.

“Unprofessional,” I muttered.

But also why didn’t I think of it first? I had access to dimensional technology. I could requisition whatever I wanted. I could have created something even better than Thalia’s tacky starlight bedroom. Something elegant, sophisticated, with—

I stopped mid-thought and pressed my palms against my face.

What was wrong with me? I was the Director of Special Containment. I didn’t kidnap employees for romantic getaways. I filed reports and maintained order and definitely did not obsess over guards who happened to be immune to cosmic horrors and looked unfairly good in a uniform and—

“You know, watching you is exhausting.”

I froze.

The voice came from directly behind me. My desk chair was spinning lazily, and sitting in it was a man who definitely had not been there three seconds ago. He wore a Hawaiian shirt and cargo shorts like he’d just come from a beach vacation. A bagel was in his hand, cream cheese smeared across one side.

Patient Zero.

Kai’s father.

The most dangerous entity on the planet was eating carbs in my office.

“Get out, Inmate Zero.”

My voice dropped to sub-zero temperatures. Ice crystallized in the air between us, sharp geometric patterns that could shred steel. The temperature plummeted even further, cold enough to crack concrete.

He took another bite of his bagel.

“You’re the textbook definition of a tsundere.”

The ice shattered.

Not from his power, from my shock. The frozen shards clattered to the floor like broken glass. I stared at him, my brain short-circuiting on the casual observation.

“Excuse me?”

“Tsundere. You know, cold on the outside, disaster on the inside. Classic archetype.”

He spun the chair in a full circle, completely relaxed. Like he wasn’t sitting in an office frozen solid by a woman who could kill most beings with a thought. Like he wasn’t technically a prisoner who should be in maximum containment.

“The way you stomp around pretending to be mad about protocols while secretly seething with jealousy? Adorable.”

My face burned despite the cold.

“I am not jealous.”

“Sure. And I’m just a regular guy who happened to stumble into an interdimensional prison.”

He gestured with the bagel, cream cheese threatening to fall. I tracked the motion like it was a weapon. Which, coming from him, it might as well be.

“I am concerned about facility security.”

“You’re concerned that a void entity got to spend quality time with my son while you’re stuck behind a desk filling out paperwork.”

Direct hit.

I tried to maintain my composure but my hands clenched into fists. The windows behind me cracked from the sudden temperature spike. Not colder. Hotter. My face was burning and I couldn’t stop it.

“That’s completely unprofessional to suggest—”

“Esdeath.”

He stopped spinning and looked at me directly. His eyes were different suddenly, no longer the goofy dad expression. Ancient. Infinite. The kind of gaze that had seen universes born and die.

“My son is passive. You know this.”

I did know this. Kai didn’t chase, didn’t pursue. He responded when pushed but never initiated.

“The girls around him? Thalia, Loki, that shapeshifter thing, even his mother? They’re hunters.”

He leaned forward, elbows on my desk. The ice didn’t bother him at all.

“If you keep hiding behind protocol and professionalism, one of those monsters is going to eat him up.”

The words hung in the frozen air between us.

“Metaphorically, I mean. Or literally. With my son it’s honestly a coin flip.”

The casual tone was back but the message was clear. I was losing ground I’d never even claimed. While I maintained distance and played the role of stern director, cosmic horrors were making their moves.

“I can’t just—”

“Why not? You’re the Director. You have more authority than anyone in this facility.”

“There are rules.”

“You make the rules.”

He stood up, brushing bagel crumbs off his ridiculous shirt. He walked past my desk toward the window, looking out over the facility grounds. Or he would be if the glass wasn’t completely frosted over.

“You know, I stopped by downstairs earlier. Saw the mess those two made.”

My mind flashed to the casualty reports. Three guards injured, one critically. Millions in structural damage. The blast doors completely destroyed.

“Yes, the damage was extensive.”

“Loki and Thalia got a bit too rough during their custody battle.”

Custody battle. Like Kai was a child and not a grown man. Though the way those two fought over him, maybe it wasn’t far off.

“I’ll be implementing stricter containment protocols to prevent—”

He waved his hand dismissively.

A pulse of power washed through the building. Not threatening, just present. Like the universe itself had exhaled. Every monitor in the facility beeped simultaneously. I could hear it through the walls, dozens of machines registering changes all at once.

“What did you do?”

“Consider it an apology for my son’s negligence. He attracts trouble like a magnet, that kid.”

I pulled up the security feed on my tablet. The broken blast doors were whole again, metal gleaming like it had just been installed. The guards who’d been injured were sitting up in the medical bay looking confused but healthy. Even the structural cracks in the walls had sealed themselves.

He’d undone death and destruction like hitting undo on a document.

“You can’t just—”

“Already did. Don’t worry about the paperwork, I’m sure Kai’s handling his share downstairs.”

He turned away from the window and walked toward the center of the room. Not toward the door. Just toward empty space. He was preparing to teleport, avoiding the exit like he avoided everything official.

“Well, this was fun. Good talk.”

“You broke into my office to call me a tsundere and fix things?”

“Basically, yeah. Oh, and one more thing.”

He stopped mid-step and turned back. That goofy smile was back, the one that made him look harmless despite being the most powerful entity in existence. He winked.

“Good luck with the paperwork, Daughter-in-Law.”

He vanished.

No portal, no flash of light. Just gone, like he’d never been there at all. The only evidence was the bagel crumbs on my chair and the lingering warmth in the air.

Daughter-in-Law.

The word echoed in my head on repeat. He’d said it so casually, like it was already decided. Like he approved. Like he was looking forward to it.

The ice in my office melted instantly.

All of it. The frost on the windows, the crystallized air, the frozen desk. Everything became water in the span of three seconds. It pooled on the floor, dripped from the ceiling, ran down the walls in rivulets.

My face was on fire.

I stood in the middle of my rapidly flooding office, paralyzed. My carefully maintained composure had evaporated along with the ice. I pressed my hands to my cheeks and they felt hot enough to boil water.

He knew.

Kai’s father knew exactly how I felt and he approved and he’d called me daughter-in-law like it was inevitable and I was going to die. Not from embarrassment. From the sheer mortification of being read so easily by a cosmic entity wearing a Hawaiian shirt.

I looked at the action figure on the windowsill.

It stared back at me with its tiny painted eyes, judging my entire existence.

“Shut up.”

The figure said nothing because it was plastic.

I grabbed it and shoved it back in my pocket where it belonged, next to my dignity and whatever remained of my professional reputation.

The water was ankle-deep now.

I should call maintenance. I should file a report about Patient Zero’s unauthorized visit. I should do literally anything productive.

Instead I just stood there, face burning, while the office flooded around me.

Being called out by your crush’s dad was apparently the one attack my ice powers couldn’t defend against.