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.

just some rich folks passing through. Don't get

bet he's got a fiancée

dashing man gone, they relished tossing these barbs her way. Clutching the axe, Emma split several logs with a ferocity that sent shivers

"Emma, cough, cough."

put the axe down

mother's voice was frail, her appearance gaunt. Emma nodded, helped her drink, and then grabbed

quite a few people came by, must've been his family." Emma paused mid-sweep, regretting she never met his family

whispered. Emma said nothing, just diligently cleaned the house from top to bottom, and when she lay in bed that night, thoughts of their time in the cave surfaced. It was as if a prince from the heavens had graced the earth. Now that the dream was

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,

hospital, slowly put it back. Spotting him alone as she emerged, Brielle asked weakly, "Do I need to be

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