Page 93 of Trove’s Purpose

“Thanks,” she beamed. “We’re staying another night, right? Want to go out with me? Just the two of us?”

“I do,” he said immediately, nodding along. “Anything in particular you’re thinking of?”

She shook her head.

“In that case, I know a place I think you’ll like.”

Chee smiled, opening her mouth. She wasn’t sure what he was thinking of, but she didn’t really need to know. She only wanted to spend time with him.

But before she had a chance to say that, she was interrupted by a loud tapping. They both turned to see Rinnicks rapping at the glass with her pipe.

“Perfect,” she purred, pushing back her hair and looking over her shoulder. Right at Trove. “It sometimes takes a while, but I always get what I want. Always.”

It was a threat. An obvious one. A threat that made Chee glare, taking a deliberate step to the side, her hand reaching out for Trove.

She wasn’t interested in other females touching him before. Now that she knew he hated it, that it physically disgusted him, there was no way she was ever letting another female put her hands on him ever again.

The movement made Rinnicks smile spread. Turn wicked. Because the challenge only made her want him more.

Before she could tell the rich bitch to take a hint and fuck off, Tanin stepped into her field of view, cutting both of them off.

“I’m glad you approve of the delivery,” he said. “Now, your part if you don’t mind.”

Rinnicks chuckled before gesturing to the silver furred male who was standing on the other side of the room, waiting at the entrance for her order.

“A deal is a deal,” she agreed. “The painting is even better in real life. I absolutely love it. I hope your client loves the cup as much. It’s a beautiful thing really.”

Ever since Hyde sent Chee after a cup, she had been focused only on her task. She really didn’t care what the cup was. She thought about it sometimes, was curious to find out what was so special about that stupid cup, but it wasn’t nearly important enough for her to care.

But now that the object was coming, now that she was finally going to get her answer, she could focus for a moment on this mystical, magical, wonderful cup.

And it was… a cup.

The silver furred male came back in with a silver tray in his hands. Sitting in the middle of the tray, on a little plinth, was a handleless glass cup.

And that was it. There was a hint of an iridescent sheen to it, and the cup was bigger than she would have been able to comfortably hold, but it was still just a cup. Too tall to be a bowl, but certainly big enough to hold a full meal of soup if she used it that way. If she imagined it was for a larger, alien male’s hand, it made more sense as a cup.

But in the end, that’s all it was. A cup. Thin, glass, slightly iridescent. It honestly didn’t look that impressive. It was shiny, she guessed. Like someone had polished it recently, but if she saw that in someone’s cabinet, she wouldn’t have looked twice.

That was the cup worth an entire moon?

Then, the silver furred male tripped.

With a cry, he fell forward. The tray was thrown forward. The cup was thrown into the air.

All the air rushed from Chee’s lungs, she took a step forward, reaching out for something she knew she had no way of catching. She watched in helpless slow motion as the cup flipped and spun in the air, unerringly falling to the hard stone floor.

Her future.

Her hopes.

Everything.

She cried out, despair enveloping her as it hit. She winced, ready for it to shatter.

It bounced.

With a delightful, beautiful, crystalline ring, it bounced, flipped through the air again, came back down and bounced again. It did it a total of three times before it just slid across the ground, still spinning on its widest point.