The Ivory Queen
Chapter 58

***Aurora’s POV***

I’ve never been on a plane, so needless to say, I was glued the window the entire trip. Oliver laughed as I pointed and stared at the tiny snow covered world below us. When we landed, Oliver could hardly keep up with me as I ran to Celina’s gate.

For the next 15 mins, I watch countless planes land on the strip and try to predict which one was hers. I grow anxious when the clock reads 3:20 and her plane has still not arrived.

“What if something happened? What if she didn’t get on the plane or maybe-“

“Aurora calm down. Flights are late all the time. Besides, it was Thanksgiving weekend and it snowed. The airport is extremely busy since everyone is traveling for the holidays. I’m sure Celina is just fine,” he says, pulling me into a hug.

Suddenly, I feel Reyna’s growing excitement.

She’s here! She squeals. Our sister is here! I can sense her!

I turn around in time to see a girl who looks just like me come out of the passenger boarding bridge. Our eyes meet and we both freeze. Words cannot describe the emotions going through me as I look at her. Her silver grey eyes stare at me with so much love and I feel a sob escape my throat. Before I know it, we’re both sprinting towards each other, eager to hug for the first time. Tears stream down my face as I wrap my arms around her and she k****s my cheeks.

“Oh my goddess! Oh my goddess!” she weeps into my shoulder, her body trembling. “Finally, we’re together!”

“Tell me it’s not a dream! Tell me you’re real!” I sob, kissing her cheeks and rubbing her back. “I can’t believe it!”

We hold each other a little while longer, grateful to see each other for the first time. When we finally pull back, I see a woman standing next to us with tears in her eyes. She has short curly brown hair and the same chocolate eyes Emiliano once had. Another sob rolls through me.

She looks just like him.

I reach for her and she holds me, cupping my face. “Por fin mija, te conozco. Estas hermosa! Tienes los ojos color miel como tu mama! {I finally get to meet you sweetie. You’re beautiful. You have your mother’s honey eyes}.”

Another sob escapes me when she compares me to my mother. “Gracias tia. Te paraces tanto a Emiliano. {Thanks. You look just like Emiliano.}”

“Pues deberiamos. Somos gemelos.{Well we should. We’re twins},” she giggles, giving me another tight squeeze. “It so good to see you mija.”

She has a thick Mexican accent just like Emiliano and Karina whenever they spoke English. I hear Oliver come up behind us and I quickly wipe away my tears to introduce him.

“Tia, Celina, this is Oliver, my mate. Oliver, this is my tia Valentina, Emiliano’s twin sister. And this my sister,” I say gesturing toward them.

Tia Val extends her hand out to him and smiles politely. “Nice to meet you,” she says.

“Placer de conocerte {Pleasure to meet you},” he replies and Valentina smiles with shock at his perfect Spanish.

Oliver reaches for Celina’s hand and she smiles coldly at him.

“You have two strikes against you. Third strike and I kick your a*s. Got it?” she snaps before smiling sweetly. “But it’s so nice to meet you, Oliver.”

He stares at her, completely dumbfounded, and I stifle a chuckle.

“Who’s hungry?” he finally manages to say and we stop by one of the many airport restaurants for a very late lunch.

After gathering our stuff from baggage claim, we rent a car and drive out to our destination. I have to fight my childish urges as I’ve never seen snow before. We manage to replace a cute little hotel on the outskirts of the town. I squeal with a excitement as I get out of the car and grab some of the snow with my gloved hands and throw it in the air. Celina and my aunt look amused at my reaction.

“You’ve never seen snow before?” Celina asks, smiling as I continue to play with the fluffy white snow.

“I don’t get out much,” I laugh as I get on all four and roll around on the white clouds of snow. “I’ve never seen the beach either…”

“You live in California! How is that even possible?” She chuckles.

“Emiliano was little overprotective and didn’t really let us leave the pack all that often. Karina didn’t let me leave at all after he died,” I shrug and grab some more snow, molding it into a ball and chucking it at Oliver.

***Aurora’s POV***

I’ve never been on a plane, so needless to say, I was glued the window the entire trip. Oliver laughed as I pointed and stared at the tiny snow covered world below us. When we landed, Oliver could hardly keep up with me as I ran to Celina’s gate.

I start to laugh but stop when I notice the sadness in everyone’s eyes. I immediately try to back pedal, not wanting to ruin the happy mood.

“I-I mean, the beach was too far anyways,” I say, forcing a smile.

“Let’s get checked in,” Oliver says, trying to help me out. “We can play when we’re all settled in.”

We check in to two separate rooms, one for Oliver and I and the other for Celina and my aunt. It’s after five when we finally get settled.

“How are you feeling?” Oliver asks as he plops down on the bed.

“I keep thinking this is all just a dream and I’m going to wake up any minute back at Lluvia Blanca,” I say, sitting next to him.

“Lluvia Blanca can k**s my French a*s,” he says, kissing my hand. “They’re never going to hurt you again, I promise.”

I lay my head on his chest and listen to the sound of his heart beat.

“It’s crazy how much she looks like you. It’s like she’s an exact copy of you but there are some clear differences I’ve noticed since meeting her.”

“Oh yeah? Like what?” I ask, propping myself up on the bed with my elbow.

He grins. “Well for one thing, you actually like me and she clearly doesn’t.”

“That’s not true. She just doesn’t know you all that well. And I may or may not have told her you rejected me, among other things,” I admit. “But she doesn’t hate you or anything…”

“That doesn’t make me feel any better,” he mutters.

“Whatever,” I laugh. “So what else is different?”

“You two are complete opposites. You’re shy and quiet whereas Celina seems very outgoing… and loud,” he chuckles. “She’s also very straight forward and opinionated. You, on the other hand, keep everything to yourself and are a complete mystery,” he says, leaning closer so that his hot breath tickles my face. I bite my lower l*p to hold back a giggle. “But that’s okay. I’m going to figure you out eventually,” he smiles, before pressing his lips against mine.

He deepens the k**s, slipping his tongue in my mouth and rolling me onto my back, trapping me beneath him. Reyna purrs with excitement when I feel his hand slip under my shirt and travel towards my breasts. Oliver caresses my mounds gently, rubbing and teasing my aching pert n*****s between his thumbs and forefingers. I m**n with pleasure as the desire starts to build up in my core.

In a split second, Oliver pulls my top and bra off, leaving me bare and at his mercy. His mouth latches onto one of my dark brown peaks, softly suckling me into a frenzy. I arch my back, running my hands in his hair to pull him closer. He lets go of my n****e and makes his way down my torso, taking special care to k**s every scar I have.

“So perfect,” he murmurs quietly. “So beautiful..”

I feel butterflies in my stomach and I bite my lower l*p as he gets dangerously close to my s*x. Oliver looks back up at me, as if asking for permission to proceed. I can hear my heart pounding in my chest and I pant with anticipation.

Yes, I want this.

I unbutton my jeans for him while he pulls back to remove his shirt when we hear a knock at the door.

“You’ve got to be kidding me…” he g****s, putting his shirt back on.

I sit up and put my bra and shirt back on, red as a freaking tomato and trying my best to slow my breathing. I go to the door and replace Celina grinning at me.

“Oh, did I interrupt something?” she chuckles when she notices my disheveled hair and swollen lips.

“Yes,” Oliver calls out.

“No,” I snap. I grab her hand and pull her into the room. “Come in.”

She plops down on the bed and sighs.

“Where’s our tia?” I ask as I sit beside her.

“She’s taking a nap. We’ve been up for a while and she’s beat.”

“I’ll give you two some privacy,” Oliver says, grabbing his coat.

“It’s ok, you can stay. Besides, there’s nowhere else for you to go. It started snowing pretty heavily outside,” Celina reassures. She turns to me now. “Ok, let me ask you some questions! I know general stuff about you but I want to know more! Please?”

Olivier runs to the chair in the corner, clearly intrigued. I nod and Celina starts to think of her questions.

“Okay, I’ve got one. What’s your favorite childhood memory?” She asks, wiggling her eyebrows.

A particular memory pops into my head and I smile.

“When I was 6 years old, we went to this pumpkin patch on the outskirts of the city. Halloween was just around the corner and while we didn’t really celebrate it, our family always went out together to pick a pumpkin for our house. The patch had a corn maze, wheel barrow and tractor rides, scarecrow making stations and of course, pumpkins. Anyways, Mia and I went to the scarecrow station and made a really scary scarecrow,” I say, smiling at the memory. Our scarecrow was about as intimidating as a squirrel but we thought it was scary.

“So with our scary scarecrow, Mia and I hid in the corn maze and jumped out at Chava when he walked through it. I can still hear him screaming like a girl just thinking about it. The look on his face was *chef’s k**s* priceless!” I chuckle.

“Dad – I mean Emiliano, however, didn’t replace it very funny and we weren’t allowed to help pick and carve the pumpkin anymore as punishment.” I sigh.

“Back then, Chava was a really good older brother and he didn’t want us to feel left out. He took out his allowance and bought us each our very own tiny pumpkin so we would have something to carve and decorate. And even after we scared him, he pushed us around the entire pumpkin patch in the wheel barrow and held Mia’s hand when she was scared to go on the tractor. He was always looking out for us, you know? I loved that little pumpkin he gave me.”

I have to take a deep breath to keep from crying.

“That actually makes me hate him more,” Celina grunts. “He loved you and yet he was able to hurt you so easily. Just like that!” She says, snapping her fingers.

“I don’t see it that way,” I whisper. “Memories like these help to remind me that there was once some good in him. It gives me hope that there might still be some kindness, just very well hidden.”

“You truly are amazing,” Oliver mumbles, more to himself than to us and I blush.

“So what’s your favorite memory?” I ask Celina, trying to ease the tension.

“Tia Valentina and her husband, Danny, have a son named Diego. He’s like a year older and practically my brother. Anyways, Danny is the supervisor for this packaging company and when we were like 5 or 6, he used to bring home these giant boxes big enough for Diego and I to climb in and play with. We would make cities out of these boxes, cutting out holes for windows and doors. We would use blankets, pillows, markers and any other item would could replace to make our houses pretty and comfortable,” she laughs.

“We always had to make the hospital first because we knew by the end of the day, one of us would end up there and it was usually Diego,” she smirks. “We were so competitive with each other and we would have these house making competitions. Tia Val was always the judge and she would decide which one of us had the most creative house.”

“I loved making those houses because no matter how much we fought over who’s house was better, at the end of the day, both of us would curl up together in one of the boxes and fall asleep, any anger and frustration melted away. It was beautiful.”

“I’m glad you and Diego get along so well,” I smile. “I’m glad you weren’t alone.”

“I’m sorry it wasn’t the same for you,” she responds, her voice quiet.

I shrug. “I had thirteen good years so I wasn’t always alone.”

She sighs, tracing patterns on the mattress. “Are you always this positive?” She asks, shaking her head and smiling.

“Yes, she is. It’s infuriating when you try to argue with her,” Oliver grunts and I stick my tongue out at him.

“Okay, next question,” she says, putting her hand on her chin and tilting her head in thought. “Ooh I got one,” she giggles, looking over at Oliver. “You’re going to hate this question!”

He frowns, crossing his arms over his chest. “Then don’t ask it.”

She bounces up and down on the bed with her excitement. “No, you’re really going to want to know.” She turns back to me and smirks. “Aurora, who was your childhood crush and why?”

Oliver’s frown curves up at the edges and he looks amused. “Yeah, Aurora. Who was your crush?” he mocks.

I blush and grab a pillow to bury my face into. “No, you really don’t want to know,” I squeak, burning with embarrassment. “You’re going to hate me.”