The Ballad of a Broken Heart | Cedric Diggory

5

First impressions die slowly, bad impressions take even longer
                                                    - Joseph Heller
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The soldier was trembling all over when he found Cedric in the large study.

"Your Highness," the soldier addressed him, dipping into a low bow. "I'm sorry to disturb you-"

"Then why have you?" Cedric's harsh, regal tone caused the man to flinch outright.

"T-there's a woman-"

Cedric loosed a harsh, annoyed breath. "How many times have I told you all not to let the women in during day hours?"

"Sir, it's not one of your escorts, I'm afraid."

Only then did Cedric face the man, his eyes flashing ice blue as he spun the glass shards from his fingertips.

The glass produced from his skin alone tinkled as he webbed it between his fingers, crushing it and remaking it. Lethal powers, but also a convenient fidget toy.

"Get on with it." Cedric drew a bigger glass shard from his palm, angling it in the light so it was illuminated. A sly threat to the soldier if he continued to beat around the bush.

"She said, and I quote, 'Tell the prince that the poison-breathing snake bitch requests his royal highness's presence.'" The man cleared his throat uncomfortably. "And she's hungry, too."

Cedric retracted the glass back into his skin with a snap, speeding from the room without a response.

As he sped through the long corridors and down the even longer spiral staircase, a million thoughts went through his mind, along with the voices having many thoughts of their own.

Cedric had heard of the poison breather and the havoc she was wreaking on Ethereal every time he even so much as stepped outside of his bedchamber. She was the talk of the town as much as she was the talk of the castle.

Some said she flayed men. Others said she incinerated them. He'd yet to stumble across one of her infamous corpses yet, but the one rumor that remained constant was her signature that she left on each one.

A kiss print made of blood right on their mouths that were melted like candle wax.

Such a horrific signature had Cedric picturing the woman as a monster, both inside and out. He didn't care that rumor had it she was the most beautiful creature in all of Ethereal. He couldn't imagine that such a monster didn't resemble it on the outside too. He couldn't imagine her as having anything other than a goblin nose and elf ears.

So, to say that Cedric was surprised when he beheld the fallen angel standing in front of six mutilated bodies and a hallway on fire would be an understatement.

"Hello, princeling," she drawled, and it was the most beautifully terrifying voice Cedric had ever heard.

Her patronizing tone made him want to rip the glass crown from his head and smash it to smithereens. Two words and she already had him feeling belittled and as royal as a scullery maid.

"Poison breather," he returned, daring to lock eyes with the angelic creature. However, when his eyes slid to hers, it was the devil that peaked out from within.

The woman took a step forward, nonchalantly picking the crusted blood from beneath her nails.

Cedric forced himself not to take a step back.

"I take it you don't remember me," she said, and her tone was utterly neutral.

Cedric didn't know what she wanted him to say, so he remained silent. What he did know, however, is that he'd remember if he'd ever seen such a vampire as her before.