diff --git a/Include/internal/pycore_pythread.h b/Include/internal/pycore_pythread.h
index 8457b07340f8dd..8d439d19830398 100644
--- a/Include/internal/pycore_pythread.h
+++ b/Include/internal/pycore_pythread.h
@@ -1,14 +1,15 @@
 #ifndef Py_INTERNAL_PYTHREAD_H
 #define Py_INTERNAL_PYTHREAD_H
-#ifdef __cplusplus
-extern "C" {
-#endif
 
 #ifndef Py_BUILD_CORE
 #  error "this header requires Py_BUILD_CORE define"
 #endif
 
 #include "dynamic_annotations.h"     // _Py_ANNOTATE_PURE_HAPPENS_BEFORE_MUTEX
+
+#ifdef __cplusplus
+extern "C" {
+#endif
 #include "pycore_llist.h"            // struct llist_node
 
 // Get _POSIX_THREADS and _POSIX_SEMAPHORES macros if available
diff --git a/Misc/NEWS.d/next/C_API/2025-09-10-17-49-54.gh-issue-138762.1rG6GQ.rst b/Misc/NEWS.d/next/C_API/2025-09-10-17-49-54.gh-issue-138762.1rG6GQ.rst
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000000..9fa191a83638df
--- /dev/null
+++ b/Misc/NEWS.d/next/C_API/2025-09-10-17-49-54.gh-issue-138762.1rG6GQ.rst
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+Fix linking of the free-threaded build with C++ compiler.