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My heart swelled at the deeper meaning of the festival as I took another look at the paper and read,
Funding the Vespen Home for Girls
My emotions got the better of me as I learned that this piece would go to help girls like me. Girls who were abandoned or had to grow up without parents.
I sighed, wishing I could bid on the painting. All my savings were still back in Veladis, hidden under my bed. I’d have to see if I could grab them tomorrow on our mission to rescue Miles and Amica.
“What’s wrong?” Bennett asked, noticing my changed mood.
“I don’t have any money to bid on the painting.”
He blinked at me and let out a laugh. “You’re the Regina Victoria. I promise, you have money.”
I arched a brow. “Like how much money, exactly?”
He smiled, putting his arm around my shoulder and pulling me in to place a kiss on the top of my head. “Enough to bid on whatever painting you want.”
I shrieked as I grabbed the pen and wrote my name down on the paper with my bid. I grabbed Bennett’s hand and pulled him to follow me as I happily looked at the rest of the art pieces.
“Can we get this one?” I asked Bennett, pointing to a small sculpture of a black stallion.
“Yes,” he said simply, never taking his eyes off me.
“Do you like this one? Do you want it?” I asked again, this time pointing to an abstract work of art that I didn’t even care about but saw that the donations would go towards sustainability, so I wanted to bid on it anyway.
“Yes,” he said again, still following me without a care in the world.
This went on back and forth for the next hour. I bid on like, twenty more pieces, and Bennett never stopped me once. I had no idea where we would even put all the artwork, but I didn’t really care. Maybe I could just donate them for next year, or give them back to the people in charge of this festival.
We were almost to the end of the art walk when something caught my eye. “No way,” I said, and I caught Bennett trying to hide a smile in the corner of my eye.
There on display in all its hideous glory was the flower I had painted on my first trip to Vesper. The one Bennett thought was a spider that humbled me severely.
“I put this one up for display.” He smirked.
I let out a laugh. “You kept it?”
“Well, I knew we would have to donate something when the Festival of Color came around, and considering I can’t draw to save my life, I figured this would have to do.” He gave me a satisfied smile, as if he was proud of coming up with that idea.
My heart squeezed, knowing that Bennett had seen a future with me all that time ago. I laughed to the point of tears as I looked at my awful painting again. It really did look like a spider the more I stared at it.
I was not burdening anyone with having this in their home, so I went to bid on the painting and was surprised to already find multiple names on the parchment.
Who would want to buy this?
My eyes traveled up the paper to the cause it would be funding, and my stomach dropped.
Funding the Rescue Operation of Stolen Vespens
I silently reached for Bennett’s hand and squeezed it. Of course he would choose this as his cause of choice. This was something he had put his heart and soul into, and I had no doubt that he wouldn’t stop trying to free the imprisoned Vespens from the dungeon in Veladis until each and every one of them was free.
Would you like to bid on this one? I asked Bennett through the connection.
I would, he said with a soft smile that didn’t fully reach his eyes.
I let go of Bennett’s hand as I watched him write down a bid that was double the amount of the previous one on the paper.
He placed his arm on my lower back, leaning in to whisper in my ear, “I hope we win that one. I want to hang it up right above our bed.”
