Field of Innocence (The Euphoria Series) by Lainy Lane Page A

brightest ideas Calandra’s ever had. The fear, of course, isn’t felt. Somehow Jarreth is making sure of that. Calandra stops dead in her tracks, and instantaneously Jarreth stops and turns to look at her.
     
    “We’re out of town and alone now so stop whatever you’re doing! I want to feel it,” she demands. Jarreth opens his mouth to protest, but his eyes look drained, and he gives in.
     
    In an instant Calandra is overwhelmed. She begins to fall backwards, and Jarreth reaches behind her to steady her. Fear, anxiety, confusion, longing, temptation, helplessness, they all turn into a black cloud that buries itself deep into her chest and stretches out to the pit of her stomach. She swallows hard and tries to regain herself again.
     
    “Take it back!” she says breathlessly and shakes her head.
     
    With a small smile, everything washes away from her instantly. She audibly lets out a breath she didn’t realize she had been holding in, and focuses on trying to steady her breathing. Jarreth’s hand pushes into her back harder, as if he is preparing to keep her from falling back again.
     
    “I’m okay,” she assures him.
     
    Jarreth pulls her toward him and leaves their bodies only a few centimeters apart. There is a strange heat radiating from him that she is ultimately aware of as it seeps into her. He stares directly into her eyes and doesn’t blink. Calandra is totally unsure of what it means or how to make it stop. He looks like he wants to say something, but is unable to do so.
     
    Jarreth finally breaks the moment with words. “We’re almost to my place, I’ll explain everything when we get there,” he says.
     
    Calandra realizes that his eyes no longer look drained like they had earlier. They are back to the normal dazzling state that she remembers from her dream, and he looks refreshed somehow.
     
    “Though if you wish to start the questioning now, you may,” he finishes and pulls his gaze from hers. He takes a sideways glance at her shoulder before he starts to walk again.
     
    Unable to bring herself to question it, Calandra follows suit. Something about him pulls her in and she isn’t sure how it makes any sense. She has never been the stupid fall right into a trap kind of person, but she suddenly wonders if she is crossing into that territory now. Despite what fears she knows should be coursing through her given the situation, she can’t seem to fight Jarreth. There is a current that seems to pass between their bodies as they walk. It is an icy heat that makes her feel more alive than she ever has before. So she walks with him, even if it means she is walking straight to her death.
     
    “What exactly is it you’re doing to me?” she asks, and the heat immediately rises into her cheeks. “My feelings, I mean, the emotions … how is it you can take them away exactly?”
     
    “It’s part of the type of Fae that I am. Different types of Fae have different … cultures, so to speak. We do different things, act different ways, have different morals.” He leaves the rest of the explanation off and it hangs in the air.
     
    “So, like a good and evil sort of thing or something?” Calandra realizes how stupid and immature the question is as soon as it spills off her lips, but she can’t take it back now.
     
    Jarreth stops at the question and turns to face her with a look of pain across his face. “It’s not quite that simple when it comes to Fae, Calandra, please remember that. There’s not necessarily an easily defined line between good and evil. It’s very blurred for anyone, and even more so when it comes to Fae. We are creatures of desire, of temptation, and of pure emotions. What may be considered evil to mortals could just be run of the mill for our kind. Not even the good Fae, as you may like to think of them, are purely good. It isn’t possible for a Fae to exist without some kind of evil in them, it’s just who we are.”
     
    Calandra stares up at him and wonders if