Finn slowly rose up from his haunches. He did not want to cause the magic that swirled invisibly around King Thalanil Ravenspar to be used against him. At least, not yet. He wasn’t ready, but part of him longed for it. To drink it down like cold, clean water. But there was so much of it, and he had seen what had happened when he’d drunk too much of the forest’s life. Rohan was not here to help him expend it. Also, there was no convenient place to discharge it here. For all he knew, if he let it out, the second canyon he created would cut through the city.

“I did not mean to steal from you,” Finn said softly. “My family’s estate was dying. There wasn’t enough life in Rirea to make it bloom again. So, I took a little. I did not hurt anyone.”