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She smiles at him, and I bite back a growl, wanting to claw his eyes out.

Leaning forward, I strain to hear what they’re saying, but I can hear nothing over the loud crunching in my ear. Finik sits on my shoulder, munching contentedly on a cracker Rowan gave him.Crunch. Crunch. Crunch.

I wince. “Finik, my friend,” I whisper, angling my head toward him. “Can you please chew quieter? I’m trying to hear what they’re saying. This is important.”

Finik blinks at me and cocks his head before he takes another big bite.Crunch.

Rowan snorts.

“Here.” I lift Finik from my shoulder and put him on Rowan’s. “Hold him while I try to listen.”

I turn my attention back to Rapunzel and the Stag Prince.

His eyes are soft and full of longing. He cups her face, and I stop breathing. My heart slams in my throat as he hugs her tight and she embraces him in return.

My stomach twists in a violent knot. “I’m going to be sick.”

Rowan leans in. “You don’t know what they’re saying. For all you know, she just told him she’s in love with you and she’s hugging him to soften the blow.”

His words soothe me a moment before they both laugh.

I purse my lips. “She’slaughing,Rowan. People don’t laugh when they’re breaking hearts. They sob. They throw things. They storm off dramatically.”

“How would you know?” he says.

“Because.” I grit my fangs as Prince Theron hugs her and spins her around. “I’ve read a lot of romance novels.”

Then it happens.

Theron lifts his hand. Green magic swirls like mist across his palm a moment before he produces a rose with his magic. He tucks it behind Rapunzel’s ear and then bows with a grand flourish as he smiles at her with his stupid, perfect face.

I gasp. “Did you see that?”

“See what?” Rowan asks. “The flower?”

“Themagic,Rowan,” I hiss. “The sinister, glowing green magic.”

“There’s nothing evil about it,” he counters. “Most Stag Shifters have some sort of nature magic.”

“That wasn’t just a flower,” I tell him. “That was a seduction spell.”

Rowan squints. “It was a parlor trick. Fae do things like that all the time.”

“Exactly.Fae do it.When they lure unsuspecting maidens away from their villages.”

“That’s a myth,” he counters.

“Is it?” I challenge. “And yet, here he is, using the same magic as the Fae to woo an innocent maiden into his clutches by weaving dark spells and bewitching her even further with an enchanted rose.”

“You think he… what? Bewitched her with a flower?”

“That’s exactly what he’s doing,” I stress. “It’s all coming together now. Iknewhe was too good to be true.”

Rowan sighs. “Ren…”

“No, listen. I wasresolvedto hate him. And then I met him, and what happens? He charmsme.Me, Rowan! A fox. And we’re famous for our charm. So how does a stag outcharm a fox?”

“Maybe you just like him because he seems like a decent person.”