The Emotional Arcs of ARC-MUTAR: Molynar, Rayale & Carne: Love Without Possession

How does a powerful being fail? This is the origin story of ARC-MUTAR: THE HEART OF THE QUEEN. 

He fails because he is required to - commanded to by someone who holds greater power.  What if the person who is destined to suffer for your failure is someone that you love, that you are bound to, who shares half your soul?  

Can the failure that destroys you become the very spark of your rebuilding, your rebirth? 

Molynar, the Sylenwood King, wears his failure like a second crown. His decision to exile Rayale to the north, to the land of the Balors saves the being he loves more than he thought possible. Her exile changes the course of her life.  When Rayale returns, she is no longer the broken teenager Molynar remembers. She is a hardened survivor, a powerful planet drawing people into her orbit, and a woman who has tasted true freedom. 

And then there is Carne, the Great Northern Balor. This is what love without possession looks like. Carne cares nothing for crowns, kingdoms, or traditions. He does not ask Rayale to be smaller so that he may stand taller beside her. He asks nothing of her except that she survive. And in teaching her how to do that, he gives her something far more dangerous: the knowledge that she can. 

Carne teaches Rayale that love does not require obedience or demand that she surrender some piece of herself in exchange for safety.  He gives her room to become - and then loves the woman who emerges.

And that is the woman Molynar must face when she comes home. Sometimes the person you think you are protecting is the very one who ends up saving you. 

Excerpt: Book 2

For just a moment, her scream filled his chest as the boar’s tusk tore into her arm, throwing her to the ground. 

          Carne spoke in the language of the North. “Never - Iya mean never - turn ya back on a boar.” His warning cycled through Rayale as the animal attacked. He had warned her over and over.

Too late.

Unable to believe she had actually trapped such a beast, excitement had washed his warning away. Now, with the animal above her and pain burning through her arm, she remembered every word.

          “I wanted you to be proud of me…” Ray groaned, carried in his arms back to the hut. 

Carne could feel himself coming apart as Ray’s life flowed out of her, over his arm, leaving a thick red path stark against the brilliant snow. It was easy to see the half mile he had run, holding her tightly to his chest, one arm under her while his hand pressed against the gaping wound. 

Faint, cycling in and out of consciousness, Rayale whispered as Carne worked to slow the bleeding. 

          “Proud. I wanted you to be proud of me.” 

Her eyes closed. 

Her Balor, with sweat covering his brow and hands that trembled, held her arm across his lap. He threaded a thick bone needle with sinew and pushed it through her skin. 

          “Iya am proud of ya, Little One. So proud.” His voice broke. “Please, Ray. Please hold on nowa.” The words he had never imagined needing to breathe life into rose from somewhere deep inside him, giving voice to a future he had never allowed himself to consider. 

“Whata am Iya gonna do without ya?”

The emotional arcs of ARC-MUTAR: THE HEART OF THE QUEEN series.