No one should have been there. The house had been empty for weeks. And yet… he could feel someone's presence.
The teapot slipped from his hands. It hit the table with a loud clang, spilling hot tea everywhere, but Jude barely noticed.
"Lambard! Eline!" he shouted toward the open kitchen door, his voice sharp with disbelief. Then, without another thought, he dashed down the hall and up the staircase.
"What's wrong, Jude?!" Eline's voice called from below.
"Jude! What happened?" shouted Lambard.
But Jude didn't answer. His heart was pounding too loudly to hear anything else.
He threw open the bedroom door—
And froze.
"Oh… oh, my God. Thank you… thank you!"
Tears blurred his vision as he looked at the two figures standing there, the two people he had prayed for every single day since their disappearance.
For a long moment, he could not speak. In all his years as a butler, he had never felt emotion this overwhelming.
