Stealing

“He does that,” Miss Highwater noted, “by reaching
inside their brains and forcibly ripping out their magical
abilities, which he then uses as he needs them.”

“That’s horrible!” Tacenda said.
 “Now now,” Davriel said. “It hurts me almost as
much as it does them, especially if the magic I steal is from someone particularly self-righteous. And they
recover the talents soon after my intervention, so what
is the harm? Aha!”

Chapter 7