She looks up at him solemnly, pressing her lips to his.

He yanked her closer, his arms crushed her to him as if wanting to meld them together. He knotted his fingers in her hair and bit down on her bottom lip.

She groans, mvoing against him in pure pleasure.

His lips parted, and his tongue swept in to dance with hers. He gently tugged on her hair while he used his other hand to caress her face

She runs her hands through his hair, tugging on it gently with a soft moan.

It ended much too soon. Ash pulled away, eyes bright, shaking with desire and passion. His heart was thudding wildly, and his fingers were untangling themselves from her hair. He stepped away and walked through the door. A goblin waited for them at the foot of the stairs, his mouth pulled into a toothy grin that showed missing fangs and gold teeth. He was decked out in jewelry: rings, ear studs, necklaces, even a gold nose ring. A milky glass eye sparkled as he turned to Claire, rubbing his claws and grinning like a gleeful shark.

She sighs, catching her breath and fixing her hair and clothes before following silently, her expression cold and dull.

"Ah, this is princess that turned prince traitor," he hissed, eyeing Claire up and down. "And now they need goblin tunnels out of city, good, good." He gestured with a ring-encrusted hand. "No time to speak. We leave now, before guards show up, ask too many questions. Need anything before we go, traitor prince?"

Ash looked pained but shook his head. The goblin cackled, gold teeth flashing in the dim light. "Yes, good! Follow me, then."

Sweetfinger led them out a back door of the tavern and along the edge of the lake. Past the docks, the ground dropped away sharply to a narrow coastline of jagged rock and stone. Hugging the breaker wall, they followed Sweetfinger to the water's edge, where two burlier goblins waited inside a small wooden boat.

"Quickly, quickly," Sweetfinger said, urging them inside.

She stepped in hesitantly, seeming to shake in fear the second she saw the boat on the water.

Ash also took a cautious seat between the two hench-goblins, who picked up the oars as Sweetfinger shoved the boat into the water and leaped in. As they rowed farther from shore, he turned to them with an apologetic smile.

"Goblin tunnels arent far from here," he said, fingering one of his rings. "Only goblins know where they are, and only goblins are allowed to see them and live. Used to be, payment would be your lovely eyes, but times change. Point is, you not goblin, you cannot see our secret tunnels. Rules, you know. So sorry."

"Understood," Ash muttered as a goblin slid behind him and pulled a blindfold over his eyes. A black cloth also covered Claire's eyes