"And miss the opportunity to go around stuffily calling your eldest the 'heir' and telling the 'spares' to shape up?" Lucifer asked. "Making them all run around for your approval. I hear that's apparently the fun of it."

He was a little surprised he didn't sound bitter. Just amused, because he knew Duke wouldn't do that, and he realized somewhere in the last few minutes he'd been lulled back into a sense of warmth and calm.

He strayed away from that thought too.