Solana stared at the floating form. She recognized him immediately. Her great son, Caleb.
He was twisted and tangled in a mess of severed vines. He was slumped forward, unmoving as he floated through the air.
“Go…” Lily whispered, pulling away from Solana.
She didn’t need any more prompting. Solana rushed to him, ripping and tearing at the vines wrapped around his body.
“I was bringing him to you,” the Dark Queen smiled. “There was no reason to cut off all my vines…. Doing so made it difficult for me to control the strength in them… I never intended to hurt the boy. I just wanted to facilitate a family reunion.”
Lily growled at the Dark Queen. But she only smiled in response.
When Solana finally removed the last of the vines, she found that Caleb was still breathing, and his heart was still beating. But it was slow. There were bloody injuries all over his body. It seemed clear that the vines had punctured him repeatedly as he was dragged down from the portal.
