Master of his heart (Brielle and Max)

Emma thought Dustin would come back, maybe in a day, maybe in a week. After getting everything settled with her mother, she noticed a pile of firewood in the yard, chopped by Dustin himself.

She was swamped with endless chores daily, with gathering herbs, drying them, and selling them taking priority. When Dustin felt a bit better, he had offered to help by chopping some wood, carrying the axe with determination to ease her burden. But since he was still

recovering, the task took him the entire morning.

As Emma stoked the fire to cook dinner, she couldn't quite place the emotion stirring inside her. The sound of coughing from inside the house snapped her out of it, and she pushed aside her thoughts; after all, he would come back eventually.

However, come evening, a neighbor popped over with news that someone had visited her home yesterday, seemingly a relative of Dustin's.

"They looked pretty wealthy, waited here all evening, but you were off to town selling your herbs, weren't you?" the neighbor jeered.

some rich folks passing through. Don't get your hopes up; someone like that would never

bet he's got a

had always enjoyed belittling Emma, and now with the dashing man gone, they relished tossing these barbs her way. Clutching the axe, Emma split

"Emma, cough, cough."

put the axe down

nodded, helped her drink, and then grabbed

been his family." Emma

It was as if a prince from the heavens had graced the earth. Now that the dream was over, he had returned to his celestial realm. Descending to weather

She complied without delay, knowing better than to postpone. After a battery of tests, which caused her to vomit several times, she had lost considerable weight from the ordeal. Throughout the day, Max's phone rang almost every half hour, but he would only speak briefly before hanging up. The doctors gave the same verdict: due to Brielle's

a hospital, slowly put it back. Spotting

fluttered at the question, sniffing himself to ensure there was no