Her skin lit up again like it had when Daemon touched her in Paro Village. The sensation helped her break free of the Lake of Nightmares vision. It also rekindled the desire to grab Daemon by the collar and bury her face into the crook of his neck, to have him not just as her gemina but as more.

“Sora?”

“Uh, sorry. I’m fine. Just . . . got distracted.”

Did Daemon not feel the sparks between them, too?

Sora let her hair fall across her face so Daemon couldn’t see her blush. “Hey, what’s this?”

She pointed at a mass of troops on the northeastern archipelago. If Kichona were a tiger, this was the tip of its upper paw. All the other soldier and boat symbols on the map had dotted lines connecting them from Kichona to targets overseas. But this squadron didn’t have a line going anywhere.

“Why would warriors be stationed there but not be involved in strikes on the mainland?” Daemon asked.

Sora chewed on her thumbnail as she thought it over.

“There’s nothing out there on the tiny islands,” Daemon said. “No people, just rocks, waterfalls, and animals.”

“But we know from experience that Prince Gin likes to hide important things in remote places where no one will expect them.”

Daemon’s eyes brightened. “Like in Takish Gorge.”

“Yeah.” That was where Prince Gin had first hidden his ryuu before they were big enough to be considered an army. Sora tapped on the little island at the end of the tiger’s-paw archipelago. “What if he’s hiding something here, too? Something that requires guards. That would explain why these soldier symbols don’t have attack routes drawn to the mainland.”

“He can’t be hiding his soul there,” Daemon said. “You have it.”

Sora patted the pocket in her collar, where the golden pearl lay pressed against her, now that they weren’t near other traces of Prince Gin’s magic. It was comforting, in a twisted way, because if the soul was still, that meant no other ryuu were near.

“But think,” Sora said. “What else is too valuable to be found that we’ve been searching for?”

“Not what else,” Daemon said, a smile growing on his face, the slash of scars on his cheek rising with it. “Who else. You think Empress Aki is still alive, don’t you? And that the Dragon Prince is hiding her there.”

“Yes. I’m willing to bet she’s being held prisoner inside Dera Falls, and I think we should go save her.”

“What about Prince Gin, though?” Daemon asked. “Isn’t the priority to get the soul back inside him so we can kill him?”