“It is,” I said as I bent down and wrapped my arm around her shoulder and helped her to stand. “You get to pick which group you’d like to be in.”
“What do you mean?” She asked, looking confused.
“Whether you want to be part of the friends or family,” I laughed and led her out the door.
“Thank you,” she said quietly, “I’ll think about it.”
“Works for me,” I grinned. “I wonder if it’s too early to head to In-N-Out?” I asked as we walked out of the house and I took my first steps into my new future.
Epilogue
October 15
Newport Beach, California
“Come in,” I called out after there was a knock at the door. I was standing in front of the full-length mirror smoothing out imaginary wrinkles on my wedding dress. The satin and lace mermaid cut dress was studded with tiny pieces of sea glass. I was wearing my princess crown, at my mom’s insistence, and my curly blonde hair was down, just the way Jason liked it.
Brian stepped into the room and I giggled when I took in the jumpsuit he wore; it was a replica of Elvis’ white eagle jumpsuit; at least I thought it was a replica.
“What?” Brian asked as he looked down at his outfit, “you said I didn’t need to wear a tux.”
“I wouldn’t have expected anything less,” I turned to him with my arms open.
Brian hugged me, careful not to wrinkle my dress then held me at arm’s length. “I’m honored that you asked me to walk you down the aisle. If your dad were here, I know he would be so proud of you.” He took a shuddering breath and I watched him to see if he would keep it together.
“Don’t you cry, or I’ll start,” I threatened the man who was such an important part of my life.
“I’m okay,” he said after a few moments. “I’m also happy to see you and your mom getting along,” he said as he lightly touched the crown on my head.
“I didn’t want to fight her on this,” I grimaced. “It means so much to her that I wear the symbol of our kingdom, I don’t really mind.”
“I have something your dad wanted you to have,” Brian said as he reached into a pocket and pulled out a red scarf.
“He wanted me to have that?” I asked.
“No,” Brian laughed, “this was just in the way. He wanted you to have this.”
Brian held up a gold necklace with a single pearl. “The day you were born, he started talking about how hard it was going to be for him to give you away at your wedding. I teased him about it because I told him he had a few years to go before he had to worry about it. You know your dad, he was always looking ahead while also living in the moment. About a week before he was killed in the explosion, he showed me this pearl and told me he wanted to create a necklace to give you on your wedding day.
“I told him I would have the pearl added to the necklace but forgot about it after he was gone. We both had different ways of dealing with our grief. Mine was to join Tionchar and come to Earth, yours was to move to the Royal Palace in the Kingdom of Theria. It wasn’t until our last visit to Cetacea that I remembered my promise.”
Brian carefully unclasped the chain and I held up my hair so he could place it around my neck.
“Thank you, Brian,” I said, emotion thick in my voice.
Brian leaned forward and kissed me on the forehead.
“You’re welcome but I have one more thing to give you,” he said and pulled a thumb drive from the opposite pocket.
“What’s this?” I asked in confusion.
“This my friend, is all the information my private investigator friend, Jim Moon, found on Mr. Terry Jergens.”
I was puzzled for a moment but then remembered Terry was the creep who had been bothering my employees. When we came back from South Africa, not only was I kept in the dark about what was happening with the Akore investigation, Bobbi wouldn’t let me do anything with my business. She told me I had to focus all my energy on the wedding.
“It seems that Mr. Jergens has been a bad boy. He’s in the habit of defrauding his clients, especially the elderly, and hasn’t been caught, until now," Brian said with a grin.
“What did you do?” I asked.
“Nothing much, except clean out each of his bank accounts and repay the people he’d cheated, with interest of course. I may have sent the information to some friends who passed it along to the SEC, FBI, local law enforcement and the local news stations.” Brian shrugged. “I think he’ll be too busy to bother anyone else for awhile.”
I hugged my friend again, grateful that he took the time to deal with someone who had flouted the law and was a nuisance to my employees.
“Thank you,” I said, my eyes glistening with unshed tears.
“We’d better get going,” Brian deadpanned, “we don't want Jason to think you got cold feet.”
“There isn’t a chance of that,” I smiled, “we’re going to be together for a very long time, and I wouldn’t have it any other way.”
The End
Afterword
Thank you for reading Scales of Justice! I appreciate you reading the first book in this new series. I hope you enjoyed reading it as much as I did writing it. Please take the time to leave a review on Amazon or Goodreads even if it’s just a few words. Reviews are incredibly vital to independent authors, the more reviews a book receives the greater the chance it will be seen by other readers looking for a book just like this one.
Scales of Justice is another example of a secondary character pushing her way to the forefront and if we’ve learned anything about Cyndi, she doesn’t let anything stand in her way—she’s also incredibly clumsy. I’m glad I had an actual person to base her on. One of the fun things for an author is to build characters on people we meet in real life and I’ve used names of some of my fans in my books along with the mythical characters they’d be if they had the chance—Cyndi is one of those.
When I was writing Reunite, the third book in the Dragonborn series, I asked my sister Cyndi what type of mythological character she wanted to be if I put her in my book and she told me she wanted to be a mermaid. We were chatting about life and she was probably telling me about a trip she was planning to In-N-Out or one of her tripping episodes which ended up with her sprawled on the ground; miraculously unhurt. Yes, it is possible for someone to be as clumsy as Cyndi the mermaid, if anything I toned down some of the things I’ve witnessed with my sister.
I wanted Scales of Justice to fit into the Dragonborn universe but also appeal to an older audience. Some of the themes in this book are disturbing, but I believe it is important for us to know that human trafficking and modern day slavery is a very real problem. It’s estimated there are between 600,000 - 800,00 world-wide victims of this vile practice each year. In the US alone there are an estimated 14,500 - 17,500 of those victims brought into the country each year. If you want more information about this vile practice you can find resources at www.hsdl.org
So what’s next? So far, I’ve written six books in the Dragonborn universe and have plans for more. The next book is Winter and it will continue Alister and Aileene’s story and will connect events hinted at in both Fierce Protector and Scales of Justice. After Winter, I will write Fierce Opposition, the next book in the Therian Shapeshifter Academy. It continues Mkali’s story and takes place directly after the events of Fierce Protector. When I finish Fierce Opposition, I’ll probably write the second book in the Tionchar Tales series, but I don’t have a title for that yet.
I love to hear from my fans and one of the best ways to get in touch with me is through my website www.bretthumphreyauthor.com You can check out all my books, pick up some Dragonborn merchandise from my online store, join my mailing list or look at the glossary to familiarize yourself with other characters from the Dragonborn universe.
I hope Cyndi and her friends inspire you to make a positive impact on someone else today.
Brett Humphrey—June 2021
Protect the Weak!
Shifter Glossary
and Pronunciation Guide
Earth Months/Therian Months
January/Faollich (Fowl-itch)
February/Garwan(Gar-one)s
March/Mart(Mart)
April/An’Ceann(Awn-Sheen)
May/Giplane(Gee-plane)
June/Ceitain(She-tain)
July/Lunsdail(Luns-dale)
August/Athas(At-tas)
September/Síocháin(Show-chain)
October/Damlar(Dam-lar)
November/Suttain(Sut-tane)
December/Dóchas(Doe-Chaz)
Kingdoms of Theria
Kingdom of Carnivoria:(Car-ni-vor-eeya)
Kingdom of Cetacea:(Set-a-see-a)
Kingdom of Eutheria:(Eww-there-eeya)
Kingdom of Marsupia:(Mar-soup-eeya)
Kingdom of Metatheria:(Met-a-there-eeya)
Kingdom of Sirenea:(Siren-eeya)
Kingdom of Theria:(There-eeya)
Afonso de Albuquerque:(Off-on-sew Dee All-buh-kirk-ee) Name used by Akore, captain of the Flor do Mar.
Akore:(Ache-ore) Evil sorcerer from the planet Claw, escaped to Earth when the ruling counsel on Claw attempted to try him for his crimes. He has stolen the life force from thousands of humans to keep himself alive for over six hundred years.
Amhi:(Am-hee) Palace guard for Lady Zhaleh.
An’Ceann:(Awn-sheen) The First, The One, The Creator.
Cecaelia:(See-say-ee-lya) Octopus person with the head, arms and torso of a human and, from the lower torso down the tentacles of an octopus.
Claw:Another planet/dimension similar to Earth, but with more magic available. It is sometimes referred to as Middle Earth.
Colonel Dlamini:(Da-law-meanie) Commandant of the South African Police Services.
Destruo:(Des-true-oh) Spell used to destroy an object or person.
Diya:(Dee-ya) One of the sisters rescued by Cyndi.
Enzokuhle:(En-zo-kook-clay) Impundulu, Tionchar operative in South Africa.
Flor do Mar: (Floor Do Mare) Portuguese sailing vessel carrying billions of dollars worth of gold, silver, jewels and precious treasures; lost at sea. Captain of the Flor do Mar at the time of its sinking was Afonso de Albuquerque.
Ghita:(Gee-ta) One of the sisters rescued by Cyndi.
Integrum: (In-teg-rum) Spell used to complete a magical working.
Impundulu:(Em-pun-do-loo) Black and white bird the size of a human. Able to summon thunder and lightning with its wings and talons.
Ishka Patel:(Ish-ka Paw-tell) Naga, Tionchar operative in India, lead investigator for Indian National Police Force.
Joki:(Joke-ee) Right hand man to Akore.
Kraken:(Crack-in) Enormous squid-like creature able to destroy ships with its tentacles and huge maw of razor sharp teeth. Has the ability to change colors to blend into its environment.
Lady Zhaleh:(Za-le) Ruler of Cetacea.
Lord Joshua Vefiru:(Vef-i-roo) Ruler of Carnivoria.
Lux Splendida:(Lucks Splen-deed-a) Spell used to create a bright light.
Metreoron Imber:(Met-ree-ore-on Im-beer) Spell to create a defense shell which fires off magical missiles back towards attacker when breeched.
Mortem:(More-tem) Death spell.
Naga:(Nah-gah) Shapeshifter with three serpentine forms. The torso of a human with the body of a snake, human form with snakes in the place of hair (similar to a gorgon), a completely serpentine form. Each form is highly venomous.
Plesiosaur:(Plee-see-uh-sor) Creature resembling the extinct marine reptile found on Earth. It has a long torpedo-shaped body, long tail and four flippers instead of legs. It also has a long serpentine neck.
Pouakai:Great eagle of Maori legend with a thirty-foot wingspan. It is seventeen feet long from beak to tail.
Raksaka Gupta:(Rock-sack-a Goop-ta) Naga, Tionchar operative in India.
Ramesh Acharya:(Ram-esh Atch-are-ya) Alias of Akore.
Revelare:(Re-veal-are-ee) Spell to reveal hidden objects.
Tabefacio:(Tab-ee-face-ee-oh) Spell used to melt objects.
Tetraodon:(Tet-ra-a-done) Merman, childhood friend of Cyndi Zhaleh.
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