Ingrid recalled Axia’s laughter, the way it had ricocheted around the stone courtyard. She imagined Axia laughing now, at ease with her strength. Not nervous in the least that she might be thwarted.
The only thing Axia had appeared upset about that morning had been the question of why Ingrid had not fallen under her spell. Believing Ingrid still had angel blood in her body had whipped Axia into a bubbling rage.
Or had it been something other than anger?
Ingrid caught Luc’s arms and squeezed. “What if she was afraid?”
Ingrid left the doors and made her way to the sofa and the corvite’s birdcage. Hugh Dupuis was in conference with Rory, but his keen eyes saw Ingrid’s approach and he detached himself from the Scot.
“Miss Waverly?” Hugh greeted her with such elegance she half expected him to be holding a whiskey and a cigar.
“Mr. Dupuis,” she replied, her mind at a gallop. “I have an awful idea and I require your help.”
He slanted a brow at her as Luc caught up. “What is it?” Luc asked.
“Apparently it’s awful,” Hugh replied.
“It is,” she said. “It’s probably insane, but I think it may be our only hope.”
She was trying to keep her voice down, but curious eyes had already started to drift in their direction.
“We’re using the wrong bait,” Ingrid started to explain, her thoughts and ideas buzzing about her head like an angry swarm of bees. “Axia has no equal here. No human or gargoyle can match her. Only another angel could be a true opponent. This morning, she found me. She came looking for me, believing I still had some of her blood. Axia was convinced it was the reason I wasn’t falling under her sway. Even without intending to, I lured her out. I can do it again.”
Hugh’s expression lit with understanding.
“No, Ingrid,” Luc said.
Hugh held up his palm. “Wait. The idea has merit.”
“I said no.” Luc’s bark secured the attention of everyone else within the library.
“It isn’t your decision,” Ingrid said to him, firmly enough to forestall a third refusal. Luc clenched his jaw and speared her with a look of fury and defeat. He pivoted on his heel and put a few strides between them.
“What’s this about?” Nolan asked, approaching Ingrid and Hugh at the birdcage.
She kept her eyes on the Daicrypta doyen. “I go to her. I bring a vial of her blood and let her have it, and then tell her that there is more. That I want to strike a bargain.”
Hathaway pushed his way to Ingrid’s side. “That blood belongs to the Alliance now, Miss Waverly. Reneging on the agreement your sister and I made would not be wise.”
“Our agreement hinges upon your witnessing the net’s ability,” Gabby said. “You haven’t yet done so, and so the blood is not yet yours.”
Hathaway lost his careful composure “Do not split hairs with me, young woman. If you think you can play me for a fool, you will be sorely disappointed.”
“So many threats, Hathaway,” Nolan cut in, angling his body toward the representative with a clear threat of his own. “Is that all the Directorate is good for?”
“We’re giving her one vial,” Ingrid said. “I have no intention of handing over the rest. All I mean to do is distract her attention while drawing her out into the open long enough for Gabby’s net to capture her.”
Long enough for Axia to let her guard down a bit, and perhaps feel a bit greedy. Wasn’t that what they needed?
“And how do you plan to find her? By wandering through Paris alone?” This time it wasn’t Luc but Vander who’d chosen to argue.
Constantine raised his hand to interrupt. “Many of the Dusters I housed here before the Chimera attack this morning mentioned the Champs de Mars as a hotbed of demon activity. Perhaps Axia’s new hive here on earth.”
The exposition buildings surrounding the esplanade, and the commanding view from the tower would definitely give Axia a protected central headquarters of sorts.
“While that sounds like a truly delightful place to visit,” Marco began, having returned to the library, “someone else will have to take the blood and lure her out. You, Lady Ingrid, will be staying here.”
Ingrid tightened her hands into fists. “Axia would sic her demons on anyone else. I’m the only person she will stop to listen to, especially if she still believes I have some of her blood in my veins.”
Mama pushed forward to the edge of the sofa cushion. “And what is to stop this Axia woman from harming you straight out?”
Her smoky quartz eyes watched Ingrid with uncut doubt and fear. That she’d referred to Axia as a woman only underscored how little she understood about the situation. However, she was far from fainting dead away at the idea of evil angels and bloodthirsty demons. Ingrid was surprised at how similar her mother’s fortitude was to Gabby’s. Perhaps even to her own.
“She wasn’t going to kill me this morning,” Ingrid answered, feeling more and more confident. “She was only going to draw out the angel blood she believed I had.”