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“Don’t be ridiculous,” I mutter. “I’m under the spillover effect of the enchantment.”

Rowan frowns. “That’s not a thing.”

“How would you know?” I gesture animatedly to Rapunzel. “I’m telling you: he bewitched her, and I was standing too close, and it somehow affected me as well.”

“If that’s true, then why am I not affected?” Crossing his arms, Rowan gives me an exasperated look. “Next, you’ll beaccusing him of being a Dragon in disguise.” He sighs. “Besides, our kind are immune to the direct effects of magic, remember?”

Doubt begins to creep in. My brother does have a point. What if jealousy is clouding my judgement? What if I’m being ridiculous? Still… no one could out-charm a fox without some form of sorcery. Could they? “Maybe his magic is so strong, he found a way around this?”

Rowan pinches the bridge of his nose. “And what, pray tell, do you think we should do about thisvery real and not at all made-upmagical situation?”

“There’s only one remedy.”

“Ren.” Rowan sighs as he gives me thelook. “What is it? I’m almost afraid to ask.”

“I need to go rescue my fated one.”

“Rescue her?”

“She’s been enchanted,” I point out. “She probably doesn’t even know her own name at this point.”

My brother groans. “Ren—”

“A spell like that probably has some sort of range on it.” I frown, trying to figure out how far that might be. “If I can get her far enough away from Theron, the enchantment will break, and she’ll remember she’s in love with me.”

“Do you haveanyproof of that theory?”

“No, but doesn’t itmake sense?”

He stares at me, and I take that as agreement.

Across the garden, Theron leans in and kisses the back of Rapunzel’s hand and then winks.

She smiles brightly at him, and I snap. I’ve definitely seen enough.

“Stay here,” I tell him.

“Oh no,” Rowan mutters. “Here we go.”

Ignoring him, I drop into a crouch and sneak along the garden wall like a predator. “Take care of Finik while we’re gone.”

“Where are you going?” he whispers.

“I’m going to save Rapunzel… take her far enough away from here to break the spell Theron has her under,” I reply, voice low so as not to be overheard by anyone but him.

“Are you seriously going to kidnap your mate?”

“It’s not kidnapping,” I whisper back. “It’s strategic relocation.”

“Ren, this is crazy,” he hisses. “Get back here!”

As soon as Theron is out of sight, I start toward Rapunzel, slinking in the shadows as I position myself behind her. If she’s under a spell, I can’t risk her alerting the Stag Prince of my intention to take her away from his influence.

Lightning fast, I hook my arm around her waist and pull her against me as I clamp a hand over her mouth, worried the effects of Theron’s spell will make her call out to him.

“Shhh,” I whisper in her ear. “It’s me.”

She stiffens and then relaxes. Satisfied that his enchantment won’t make her yell for him, I remove my hand from over her mouth. “Ren?” She turns to face me, confused. “What are you doing?”