“Thank you, Your Majesty. I was actually wondering if you knew anything about Gin that could help us get close enough to reunite him with his soul? I can handle infiltrating the castle, but he’s so well protected. . . .”

Empress Aki shook her head. “I’m sorry. It’s been a decade since we’ve lived together. I don’t know what his daily routines are, whether he’s exposed at meal times, or when he’s getting dressed in the morning or anything like that.”

“Oh,” Sora said, trying to hide her disappointment. It had been a long shot, but ideas were few and far between right now, and it would have been nice if something was easy for once. “That’s all right. I’ll think of something.” She gave the empress what she hoped looked like a confident smile. “Let’s start with the other part of the plan that requires your help. You have good diplomatic relationships with the mainland kingdoms, right?”

The empress nodded. “Most of them, some better than others.”

“Do you think they’d respond to our call for help?”

“Well, not Thoma because . . .” Empress Aki’s eyes watered.

Sora nodded grimly at the reminder that Tsarina Austine was Prince Gin’s prisoner.

The empress wiped away a tear and shook her head as if to clear it. “I have no doubt that Ria Kayla and Emperor Geoffrey would offer their navies and marines,” she said, refocusing on Sora’s question. “Queen Meredith is a possibility if I asked her in person. I’m less sure about Queen Everleigh and Empress Vivíana, because they don’t have as much military might. And I’d ask High King Erickson last. He’s mercurial and hard to predict.”

“That’s all good to know,” Sora said. “I say we focus on just the first three kingdoms, then.”

“But even if we could get distress messages to Kayla, Geoffrey, and Meredith,” Empress Aki said, “it would take weeks for their troops to arrive. We don’t have that kind of time.”

Sora glanced in the direction of the sea. “Under normal travel conditions, that would be true. But we have a way to move across the ocean even faster than a sailfish: Tidepool.”

Everyone turned to look at the unconscious ryuu. She was an intimidating brute of a warrior who wore a scowl even in sleep.

A slow smile crept onto Empress Aki’s face. “You’re going to have her propel me on a ship to each of the mainland kingdoms and then bring their navies back.”

Sora grinned.

“It’s a good idea,” Broomstick said slowly, “but how, exactly, are we planning to control her? The only reason she hasn’t drowned us yet is because we knocked her out.”