Free For the Heart of Dragons by Julie Wetzel

hungry. I’m hungry, too, but digging in other people’s things isn’t nice.”
    “But I likes the squishy, fruity things,” Byrd whined.
    “I like gummy bears, too,” Noah soothed him, “ but we should have asked before we got into them.”
    “Why?” Byrd whined again.
    “Because they were Kara’s.”
    “But they yummy and I hungry.”
    “But you can’t just take someone else’s stuff,” Noah tried to explain.
    “Why not?”
    The absolute innocence of that question floored Noah. “ For an old dragon, you’re pretty ignorant,” he snapped.
    Anger washed over Byrd, and he flooded Noah’s mind with information. “ Not dumb!”
    Noah reeled from the sheer amount of knowledge Byrd dumped on him. After a moment, he found his equilibrium and addressed the upset dragon. “ I didn’t say you were dumb. I said you were ignorant, and there’s a difference. You’re not stupid; you’re naive in the way the world works.” This seemed to calm Byrd, so Noah went on. “ How is it that you know so much yet understand so little?”
    Byrd sat quietly, brooding over the question.
    Noah pushed him a little. “ Did you ever think that Kara would be upset if we got into her stuff?”
    “No ,” Byrd grumbled.
    “Do you think we should ask next time?” Noah asked softly.
    “Raven not let me do anything, either!” Byrd snapped.
    The epiphany hit Noah like a frying pan to the face. It wasn’t that Byrd had lived a long time without learning social skills. He hadn’t needed them! Raven had been his moral compass. She, as a rational, thinking being, had been able to tell right from wrong and pick the actions that fit within social standards. Byrd, without that rational thinking, was driven by instinct and desire alone. If he wanted something, he didn’t see any reason not to just take it. Noah pondered this, rearranging his views on dragon kind. With everything he knew of dragons, this view made perfect sense. Two entities sharing a body. Both highly intelligent. One rational. One instinctual. It explained so much randomness that he’d seen and dealt with. It also gave him some idea of what he needed to do to regain some control over his life and body.
    “ Byrd,” Noah soothed the irritated dragon, “ this is new to us both, but please, let me help you through it.”
    Byrd grumbled at him.
    “Byrd,” Kara called out to him.
    Byrd’s head popped up to look at her.
    “Would you like to come help me put that room together while we wait for food?”
    A wave of emotion washed over Noah as Byrd stared at Kara. The mix was hard for Noah to name, but he did recognize something. Desire. It wasn’t so much the lustful feeling that had come with Byrd’s memories. It was more of a need to please Kara.
    Noah jumped on it when he felt Byrd’s reluctance to do work. “ Why don’t we help her?” he pushed.
    Byrd paused before answering him.
    Noah could feel the argument rising in the dragon. Byrd was still hungry and didn’t like the idea of working on an empty stomach. But Noah knew the dragon was drawn to the woman. “ It would make Kara happy,” he coaxed.
    Byrd gave in to Noah’s persuasion and chirped his agreement to Kara.
    Noah let out a sigh as Kara led them upstairs to get to work. Byrd still had control over what they did, but he was starting to understand what drove the dragon, and that would go a long way to getting his body back.
    “You no like me?”
    The question startled Noah. There was a note of hurt in those words that upset Noah. He knew Byrd shared his thoughts, but he hadn’t realized how closely the dragon could hear them. “ It’s not that I don’t like you.” Noah searched for a way to explain so Byrd would understand. Remembering the way Byrd had shared his instincts and knowledge, Noah opened himself and dumped all of his feelings on Byrd—his frustration at being locked away from the world and his fear of the changes in his life.
    The little dragon stopped on the steps and