I looked up at him. “You do know that's a baby sheep, right?”
He snorted a laugh. “A young sheep, not a baby. But if that disturbs you, skip number four.”
“Number four?” I looked at the list of items. Sure enough, they were numbered. And number four was . . . “Veal?” I blinked. “Oh, fuck. Dhons like to eat babies.”
Keltyr burst out laughing. “We're not the only ones who liketendermeat,” he lowered his voice into a sexy tone, turning something innocent, if brutal, into something naughty. “Oh, and there's young goat on the menu too.”
“Baby goat?” My expression turned horrified.
He grinned broadly. “It's delicious.”
I returned my stare to the menu as I muttered, “I think I'll go with the chicken.”
“You know what eggs are, right?”
I stuck my tongue out at him. “The eggs we eat aren't fertilized. They aren't babies yet.”
“Yeah, all right. I was just teasing you.”
“My lords, welcome to the Midnight Horn,” a Dhon woman—recognizable by her long, delicate tail but lack of horns—strode up to us on spindly shoes. She had a small pad and a pencil in her hands. “I'm Eline, and I shall be taking care of you this evening. I've been told that you are our most special guests, and I'm honored to be chosen to serve you.” She paused to wave someone forward.
Another Dhon man hurried up to our table with a steel bucket on legs—the prettiest bucket I'd ever seen. Within it, a bottle nestled among ice cubes. He set it down, pulled out the bottle, and laid it over his forearm so that the label faced up, angled toward Keltyr. He let Kel peer at it, then presented it to me. I looked, though I had no idea what I was supposed to be inspecting.
“This is our finest sparkling wine,” Eline said. “If it's to your liking, we would like to offer it to you, compliments of the Midnight Horn.”
“Thank you, that would be lovely.” Keltyr nodded.
As the man opened the bottle and poured some wine into each of our glasses, Eline said, “Wonderful! Now, would you care to hear about the specials?”
Kel nodded, glancing at me.
As the woman described the dishes that would only be served that evening, in addition to those on the menu, my stare slid back to Keltyr. I realized that as much as we had talked about adding another lover to our group, Xae and Rath had never laid out the rules. Could I sleep with Keltyr before I fell in love with him? Wasn't that a part of falling in love? But what if I fucked him and then didn't fall in love? Everything was so complicated now. I should have discussed things more with them. I wanted to do this with as much respect for them as possible.
“Ember?”
“Huh?” I blinked from Kel to Eline and back.
“Eline asked if you needed more time to decide,” Kel said.
“Oh. No, I think I'll have, uh.” I looked at the menu. “Number eighteen.”
“The honeyed garlic chicken,” Eline said as she noted it on her pad. “Good choice. We do have a souffle for two available for dessert tonight. The choices are chocolate, orange, or strawberry. You'll need to order it now, though, because it takes a while to prepare.”
“Do you like souffles?” Kel asked me. “They're like fluffy cakes.” He leaned in to add in a dramatic tone, “They're made with eggs.”
I grimaced at him, then said, “I've never had one.”
“Well, that decides it. We'll have a chocolate souffle,” he said to Eline. “Although we may have other desserts too. I have a sweet tooth.”
“I heartily approve.” She wrote down our dessert order. “I'll be back with some fresh bread shortly.”
“Thank you.”
“My pleasure.” She inclined her head to us and hurried away.
“I hope you don't mind the appetizers,” Kel said. “You didn't react when I ordered them.”
“Oh, I didn't even hear you. Sorry.” I winced. “I was thinking about, well, about rules.”
