Page 96 of Dragon Me Through Space

As we walked down the hallways towards our destination, we saw several more Dragonkin.

“Why didn’t you guys have any crew on your ship?” I asked, realizing I’d never questioned them about it before.

“We didn’t need them,” Wayne answered simply. “We were all capable of handling the small ship on our own. The only time we hired anyone was for moving heavy supplies from the dock into the cargo hold. Aside from that, we just did it all ourselves.”

I guess that did make sense.

“Plus, it was easier to keep things secret and avoid more Dragonkin politics by refusing to allow anyone else on the ship,” Gage added.

“What took you so long?” Zeke asked as soon as we stepped inside.

“I had to wait for Wayne to finish flirting with a female,” I said.

“What?” Zeke demanded.

Gage laughed. “Norma was trying to persuade Wayne to take her as a concubine.”

“Oh, Norma,” Zeke grumbled. “She’s … persistent.”

My jealousy returned. “So, she’s tried with all of you?”

“Yes,” Preston answered as he continued his stretches.

My hands clenched into fists and Preston noticed, arching a brow a second later, but then smiled wide as he asked, “Jealous, pet?”

“No.”

“Lie.” Preston laughed and walked towards me.

As soon as he got close, I grabbed him using a hip throw, and flipped him onto his back.

He laughed and said, “I think jealous Xoe is my favorite version.”

Zeke pulled me away from Preston and towards the mini obstacle course that they’d built. “Stop taunting her and let’s get to the real training. We don’t have that long before we arrive and there’s still a lot we have to teach her.”

“Do you think the rumor has any truth to it?” Wayne asked Gage, distracting me.

“Focus, Starlight,” Zeke ordered me, though his tone was soft.

“She could have been telling the truth,” I whispered.

“There will always be rumors, you have to be able to focus no matter what is being said around you,” Zeke said and tugged on a strand of my hair. “Focus so you can avoid getting hurt. The last thing we want is for you to get hurt.”

“Right, focus,” I whispered and stretched a bit more before I started my first run around the obstacle course.

After my third run, they agreed to stop for dinner.

“You’ve improved a lot,” Zeke praised.

“Well, as much as I’d like to take credit, it’s mainly from my upgrades,” I admitted. “I don’t know everything that he did or everything he put inside of me, but my muscle memory is much better now than when I was younger.”

“You know, some of your improvements might be simply from your hard work and not your upgrades,” Wayne said as he walked behind us towards Preston and my room.

“What do you mean?” I asked and walked backwards so I could look at him.

Zeke walked closer to me, like he was worried I would fall over by walking backwards.

“Your last comparison of your body is from being ten or eleven years old, right? A Caltyrelan body hits puberty at thirteen or fourteen on average, so you hadn’t even hit puberty yet. So, not only did you get ‘upgrades,’ but your body also hit puberty and went through significant hormonal and physical changes. Many of your improvements could be your own training and body. So, I think you should be a bit kinder to yourself and also try to acknowledge your own hard work.”