“Drozalia!”

She spun around from the spot she was lounging, fanning herself with a book on her back patio. She was wearing one of her signature long dresses. Her hair was up in the same braid style she always worse, and her huge sunglasses hid her eyes and her expression.

When she saw me charging toward her, she flashed me a joyful smile until she noticed my smoldering glare and fists clenched at my sides.

“Hey, Togtulir, what’s up?” She put down her makeshift fan and pulled up her sunglasses to her head, swiveling to greet me.

“I need to discuss something very important with you,” I growled, standing above her and blocking her little sunbathing party.

“What’s wrong?” She sounded timid and nervous, a quality I was surprised to hear, thinking that trait was lacking on somebody like Drozalia.

“You are what’s wrong. Why were you trying to sabotage my budding romance with Cindy? She was going to leave the planet without a second thought, or even a goodbye, no thanks to you. Luckily, I was able to catch her in time and talk her back down to reality before she slipped through my fingers forever.”

I kept my glare aimed right into her now visible eyes. I wanted her to grasp the magnitude of her meddling in business she had no right to be in. At my statement, Drozalia’s face fell into a wince of heartbreak, but she quickly recovered.

“That little bitch,” She murmured and stared past me and out at her own house pool, a luxury only the richer people could afford on Cardalph. Since her father worked at one of the banks here as a high-profile businessman, she could enjoy a lifestyle of relaxation and pampering. I hated that he shoved money at her like a spoiled little brat.

I found it extremely annoying that she didn’t have to work for anything, even though I had considered her a loyal friend for most of my life.

“Err, excuse me?” I pitched my hand to my ear, wanting her to repeat the vile words I thought she’d just spewed.

She returned my glare. “You just don’t get it, do you, Togtulir?”

“Get what? What are you talking about?” I threw my arms up in the air, exasperated by this conversation that was leading nowhere.

She shifted her skin color to appear human. I raised my eyebrows. “What’s this about?”

“Now do you notice me, Togtulir? If I look like her, could I get a second glance from you?” Tears filled her eyes but I still wasn’t grasping whatever it was that she was trying to tell me, so she pressed on. “I’ve loved you my whole life, Togtulir,” her voice cracked, and she walked slowly over to me, placing her hand on my arm.

I looked down at her human looking hand completely stunned by this revelation, she’s just blasted my way. “All this time, you had love waiting for you. Staring you in the face and you turned a blind eye.”

“I didn’t know you were in love with me, Drozalia. How can you point a finger at me when I was completely unaware?”

Ignoring my question, she leaned in closer until our mouths were only an inch apart. Her breath smelled like cherries, and her lips were dazzled even more red than usual with the human appearing skin she was currently wearing. She opened her mouth slightly, pursing them in my direction. I was paralyzed to move away, she had me under some kind of temporary spell.

She took my chin in her perfectly manicured fingers, pulled me closer and closer until her tongue opened my lips and slid inside my mouth. Before she could continue further, I pulled away violently. “Stop it, Drozalia. What do you think is going to happen here? That you can just profess your love for me and bam! we live happily ever after? It doesn’t work that way and you know it.”

I had touched a nerve, and I could feel her sizzling. “You act like you’re so perfect, Togtulir, a wondrous catch. I’ve watched you over the years, women throwing themselves at you and you were just eating it up. All that attention. But nobody respected you, and you have a long way to go, especially when it comes to the elders of Cardalph. You’re a joke. You know that right? The pathetic little rich boy, heir to the throne as ruler, but he can’t pull his own head out of his ass long enough to know which direction to move in.”

“You are messing with forces beyond your understanding, Drozalia,” I snarled at her and pointed a finger directly in her face, which she shoved away rashly.

“What about those prisoners huh? When are you going to let them go big shot? Mr. High and Mighty? Your precious Cindy didn’t like that much, did she? That was most of the reason she wanted to leave Cardalph. Better get to fixing that, Mr. Perfect.” Her tone mocked me and made me rethink everything I had worked so hard to build over these past several weeks.

“I don’t know what you expect from me, Drozalia. I’m not in love with you, and I never will be.” I shot her down in one fell swoop out of anger and spite in the heat of the argument.

Drozalia took a few steps back from me. I knew she would need time to lick her wounds. On the way over to her house, I had rehearsed in my mind how I would blow up at her and banish her completely from Cardalph to punish her for what she did to Cindy. Now I knew there was no way I would be able to get away with that. Drozalia was in a soft and vulnerable position now, and I needed some time to think for myself too.

Shifting her skin back to its original blue pigment, her posture deflated and she looked drained and defeated. “You had love on Cardalph all along, Togtulir. Why didn’t you want to find it?”

“I wasn’t able to feel a love I didn’t know existed. That’s how the universe works, Drozalia. You won’t know it’s there until you feel it, too. You were always just a friend to me, nothing more.”

Tears rolled down her cheeks and I felt the burden of guilt for being the culprit in this mess. I had no idea I was in the middle of a love triangle, but I wanted to make sure Cindy stayed unaware. She had already been through the ringer enough as it was during her few days on a different planet. It was a lot for her to try to adapt to; life with a foreign species in her eyes, and I needed to make sure from now on that I would be there to catch her if she fell.

“So, where do we go from here?” Drozalia’s eyes pleaded with me. I was her only weak spot. She would never expel this amount of emotion to anyone else and I knew that.

“I won’t banish you from Cardalph for playing mind games with Cindy, but I want you to stay away from her from now on.”

She just stared through me for several seconds, without muttering a word. “Drozalia, do I have your agreement?”

She nodded her head feebly. I could feel her hurt, but I couldn’t lead her on into something she dreamed would come to fruition that would never be. As I turned to leave and return to the palace, Drozalia called out to me. “You’ll see the light, Togtulir. You’ll come running back to me once you realize the mistake you’ve made.”

I knew she wanted to have the last word so it would ring in my mind. That was the type of person Drozalia was. She was too proud to wave the white flag of defeat. She had to prove to everyone around her that she had a hard shell and a tough exterior. Only I knew her better than that, which is why I just paused briefly but didn’t turn around before walking out of sight.

* * *

Not wanting to lead Cindy to any further suspicion about my commitment toward her, I had told her I would be out most of the day. I didn’t know how long I would be at Drozalia’s, and now that I was seething and reeling from our argument and the new-found knowledge that she had loved me all her life…I had to clear my head.

I walked down to the creek where my dad first taught me how to fish. We had spent many early mornings out there together. I could still hear the sound of the reel as he pulled his rod from the water, with me hoping there would be a trophy fish to bring home on the other end. I wondered if I would be even half the father that my dad had been to me. Now that he was deceased, I couldn’t help but feel the remorse for all the grief and suffering I had put him through during my wild days.

“If you’re out there, Dad, I just want to let you know I’m sorry,” I said into the air, as the wind blew my confession through the trees.

Drozalia mentioning the prisoners made me step back and think about the choices I’ve made. I probably needed to let them go. Even she was confused about why they were still being held on Cardalph. They obviously posed no immediate threat and I couldn’t go on allowing them to rot in those dark cells. I would go home after this and tell Cindy I would consider freeing them after I ruled out any dangerous factors that could go wrong. I hoped she would love me more for this.

I was having a hard time focusing on anything because I was reliving all the past mistakes I’d made in my life. Drozalia’s harsh words slapped me in the face with the reality and scope of what I’ve gotten myself into. I felt numb on the inside. I leaned over and splashed my hand into the cold water of the running creek. I loved the bubble and trickle sound the water made as it hit and splashed the rocks.

I haven’t exactly made the best decisions in my life, and now I was wondering if bringing Cindy to Cardalph was one of the regretful ones. I was falling in love with her, I knew that much. But was I being selfish in keeping her here?

My mind wouldn’t rest, but finally, I was able to convince myself that I had made the right decision. If anything, I had rescued Cindy from a life of loneliness and poverty. She had no one to go home to back on Earth and had been facing eviction from her already ratty and rundown apartment. Coming out of a bad break up, she needed some nurturing and I was sure I was the partner for the job.

One last time, I preached into the wind and hoped my dad was out there somewhere to hear me. “I’m not gonna let you down anymore Dad. I promise.”

I walked out of the woods and back home to where I knew my future bride would be waiting for me.