Broken Angel: A Zombie Love Story Read Online Free PDF

mentor’s voice. “Let’s just say Michelopoulos’s reputation
precedes him.”
    “And you’re wondering what it would be like
if you didn’t have to remain a virgin.”
    Now she might as well have stuck her whole
head in the oven. “The thought has crossed my mind.”
    Helga chuckled. “That’s natural, dear. All
of us thought about it at one time or another.”
    “That’s not true!”
    “Isn’t it? Even as the next head of the Remy
family, you would be powerless without your virginity until the
ring passed to you. I’ve known wizards who lived a decade or more
as a mundane until the ring passed to them. And let me tell you,
their talent paid the price for those years of inaccessibility. The
cost for passion is high, Clare, very high. For all of us.”
    “I know.” She blew out her breath and pushed
away from the counter. “Believe me, I’ve heard about nothing else
since Daddy died. I just…” Her throat constricted, each word as
rough as sandpaper. “I don’t think I’m cut out for chastity the
rest of my life.”
    “No one ever said you had to remain chaste
forever.”
    “But—”
    “I said the cost was high, yes. But not
forbidden.”
    Clare shook her head. “It’s not worth the
cost, I get that.”
    Helga stood up and cracked a wooden spoon
against her palm sharply, the same way she brought her class to
order each day. “Have I taught you nothing at all? Magic comes from
within you. There is always a cost, depending on your talent and
the spell itself. We know you can cook all day in the kitchen and
the only cost you must pay is the sweat of your brow. How do you
feel after a few hours in the kitchen?”
    “Tired, but happy.”
    Helga nodded. “Like you’ve gone for a nice,
long walk, but not exhausted. Not like a marathon or
triathlon.”
    “Exactly.”
    “Now say someone barged into your house this
very moment and shot me. You have to heal me. How would you feel
performing that kind of magic?”
    The thought made Clare’s stomach clench with
dread. “I couldn’t.”
    Helga cracked the spoon against her hand
again. “You could . It would hurt terribly. It’d probably
take you days, if not weeks, to recover, but if your will was
strong enough, you would absolutely bend your kitchen talent into
something else. The pain and effort in that bending, the cost to
yourself, would empower it. Sacrifice, Clare. The cost you pay
enables the magic to be bigger and to work on a talent that you
don’t claim as your own if you fully and knowingly embrace the
sacrifice.”
    Searching her mentor’s face, Clare nodded
slowly, her mind whirling. “So you’re saying some people choose to
make the sacrifice of their virginity and their gift for something
else, to empower their last magic.”
    Slipping back into her kooky masquerade—for
Clare suspected that was exactly why her mentor dressed so
wildly—Helga let out a trilling laugh and bounced toward the door.
“I’m just saying that for the right man, darling, it might be worth
the cost. Good luck and let me know how it goes with Mr.
Michelopoulos!”
    Clare collapsed heavily in the chair and
dabbed her sweaty cheeks with her apron. Dealing with Helga was
sometimes like running the gauntlet. How much worse would it be to
deal with an entitled, impossibly arrogant and gorgeous
billionaire?
    She closed her eyes and shivered, while
trying to deny that a kernel of insanity already burned in a deep
secret corner of her heart.
     
     
     
    Other books by Joely Sue
Burkhart
    Dare to peek beneath the mask
    JoelySueBurkhart.com
     
    Current Series and Upcoming Releases
     
    Zombie Category Romance
    THE ZOMBIE BILLIONAIRE’S VIRGIN WITCH,
October 2012
     
    The Maya Bloodgates, paranormal romance
from Carina Press
    BLOODGATE, a free
read prequel
    THE BLOODGATE GUARDIAN, June 14, 2010
    THE BLOODGATE WARRIOR, August 6, 2012
     
    A Jane Austen Space Opera, SF erotic
romance (BDSM) from Samhain
Publishing
    LADY WYRE’S REGRET, free read prequel
    LADY