else why would he not have returned to his people during some of their most desperate moments?
They were not even through the entrance before Tyrande met them. Jarod started to speak, but the high priestess shook her head. She directed them to take Shalasyr to a long, sloping couch next to her, then bade the attendants without to close the doors.
Her expression grave, the high priestess went down on one knee next to the other female. Tyrande began murmuring a prayer under her breath, and her hands continuously passed over Shalasyr’s body.
The light spread from the high priestess to Shalasyr. Jarod let out a hopeful gasp. The two males watched with anticipation as the soft silver light settled down over the stricken figure.
Without warning, the light faded.
Tyrande pulled back. A sound escaped her, one that Malfurion recognized from times in the past.
“Jarod,” Tyrande said in a low voice as she rose and turned. “Jarod . . . I am sorry. . . .”
“No!” He shoved past the archdruid. “I told her she could get help here! I told her you or Malfurion could save her! Why will you not save her?”
Tyrande halted his lunge toward Shalasyr with a simple touch of her hands against his shoulders. Eyes more hollow, tears beginning to stream, the former guard captain from lost Suramar stared into the high priestess’s sympathetic gaze.
“She had already slipped away. There was nothing that could be done.”
He looked aghast. “No . . . I brought her as soon as I could! I pushed for us to reach here—” His own gaze veered toward Shalasyr. “I did it, then! I pushed her too hard! She would be alive if I had not—”
Tyrande shook her head. “You know that is not true. Her fate was cast. She knows that you did all that anyone could have done. It was simply meant to be—”
“Shalasyr!” Jarod dropped down next to his mate. He clutched her face to his shoulder.
Malfurion quietly joined his own mate. They watched in solemn respect as Jarod rocked back and forth and whispered to his lost wife.
Finally, Jarod looked back to his hosts. Tears still slid down his cheeks and into his beard, but his voice sounded stronger now, more resigned to the truth. “We both feared that she would not make it, but we both agreed that it was best. Yet . . . I remember from her tone at times . . . now that I look back on it . . . she knew the truth. She did this more for me than for her own life. She wanted me to come back here to be with others, not be alone when she . . . she passed.”
“You called her ‘Shalasyr,’” Tyrande replied soothingly. “I thought I recognized her. She was a novice here for a time. We all assumed she had wandered away from the old city and that some accident had subsequently befallen her, even though searchers found no body. No one knew that she and you were together, though the timing of your mutual disappearances should have spoken volumes to us. . . . Yet we never made the connection. . . .”
“We kept our love secret . . . mainly out of concern on my part. I had already considered leaving everything . . . long before. I had grown disenchanted with the polarization of our society. Your druids—forgive me, Malfurion—your druids had been becoming more and more remote, spending most of their time away or in the Emerald Dream rather than sharing in the responsibilities of keeping our people safe and secure. . . .”
The archdruid said nothing. He had heard this from others, including Tyrande. The guilt for all those centuries of abandonment still remained with him.
Jarod exhaled. “And though I loved her with all my heart, I hoped that she would see the folly of being with me. I believed that if and when I chose to depart, I would save her from having to answer questions about my choice.”
“Jarod . . . ,” Malfurion began, but the other male continued as if hearing nothing.
“Instead, she proved determined to follow my path, wherever it might lead. She always tried to do what I wanted, even when I tried my best to see to her happiness. . . . ” Jarod kissed Shalasyr’s forehead. “Little fool . . . first she wastes her life following me into the wilderness . . . and then she sacrifices what strength she has