“Me?” Asmos pointed to himself. “I didn’t do it!”
Bel snickered. “You probably did something but I don’t think you’re Atlas’s grandfather. That would just be too weird for me.”
Asmos hummed. “But you would be giving me my first great-grandchild, which would be cool. I’d make the best great-grandpappy!”
“Great-grandpappy?” Atlas repeated. “That’s what you would go with?”
Asmos shrugged. “I’ve been reading baby books. With names. Trying to decide what your baby should call his favorite person. That’s me, by the way.”
“I think you’ll all be the baby’s honorary uncles,” Atlas replied.
“Or is Asmos’s case, just the uncle,” Seb said and gave some sort of jazz hands as if he was finishing a magic trick.
Bel tilted his head in confusion.
Seb grinned.
“Huh?” Atlas asked.
At least Bel wasn’t the only one lost.
“But if everyone is an uncle, then I want to be something special,” Asmos whined.
“Blood uncle?” Seb offered.
Atlas stiffened behind him, making another jolt of pain flare through Bel. “What are you saying, Seb?”
“That small drop of blood that you gave us? We were able to use magic to trace the bloodline. It took some time since we used magic but not a summoning. Lucifer was adamant that none of his demons would be summoned against their will. Even for research. Which I guess I get but it would have been so much easier if—”
“Seb.” Ash nudged his mate. “You’re getting off track.”
“Oh sorry!” Seb shrugged. “It took time because we had to print out every single demon in existence. Then we used magic to trace your blood to familial blood. And when we traced it to Asmos, I about swallowed my tongue but the blood kept tracing all the way to Zepar!”
Asmos yelped.
Fuck! That was not good news.
“Who?” Atlas questioned.
It was Asmos who answered. “My sire.”
“Sire? Like your father?” Atlas asked.
Asmos nodded. “He’s an asshole.”
Atlas leaned forward and started to laugh. His entire body shook, forcing Bel to shift uncomfortably.
“I think you broke him,” Ash whispered to his mate.
“What’s so funny?” Asmos pouted.
Atlas’s chuckle trailed off. “If there is any demon I would want to be related to, it would be you. I know we all joked about it earlier, how funny it would be if you fathered my mom, but I have truly begun to love you as a brother. I am actually relieved.”
The way that Asmos’s face lit up warmed Bel’s heart. Like Asmos thought that Atlas would be upset or something learning that he was directly related to Asmos.
“I don’t understand though,” Atlas said. “I thought you all, the demon princes, were the first demons.”
“The first-born demons yes,” Bel told him. “We have sires though. Angels sent down with Luci to run the hell realm. When Luci realized what an enormous task he’d been given, he consulted his father and the magic changed so that the first births would produce demons. It was the magic’s way of protecting the realm. To ensure we always had our own kind and warriors.”
