Out in the quiet of the gardens, Seymour paced frantically back and forth, trying to force down deep breaths of the cold night air that stung at his lungs.

"What am I going to do? What am I going to do?"

His panicked mind was racing as he tried to figure out how to handle the situation he'd gotten himself into, but he doubted a good solution would have existed even if his head was clear enough to figure it out.

He couldn't feed the plant again. He just couldn't. How would he live with himself? He already felt he could hardly live with himself after it happened as many times as it did. But at the same time, there was an ever-present voice nagging at the back of his mind, reminding him of exactly what he was risking if he didn't continue to do as the green monster said.

"I never should have started, but I did. Now it will die if I don't feed it. And I'll lose her. I'll lose everything."

Audrey was everything to him. And as much as he couldn't live with the plant and its demands to be fed, he also didn't think he could go on without her. He felt so incredibly lost, like there wasn't a path in the world that could take him in the right direction.

"Seymour? Who are you speaking with?"

He turned around to see that Audrey had followed him, and his heart hammered harder as he wondered how much she had overheard. "Oh, n-nobody."

She must not have heard much, because she didn't seem to feel the need to question him any further. But instead, her face filled with guilt as she took in his pale face and the dark circles under his eyes. It was clear just how exhausted and on-edge he was, as if he hadn't managed a good night's sleep for who knew how many nights and he was nervously expecting something terrible to happen at any moment.

"I truly want to apologize, Seymour. I know how stressful this life can be, especially when you aren't used to it. I never should have asked you to face any of this because of me."

He couldn't possibly explain that what she spoke of was only a part of the problems weighing on his mind, but he did know that he certainly didn't want her blaming herself for anything.

"My lady, you've done nothing wrong. I'm the one who…" His voice cracked, and his next breath seemed a struggle to get down.

"It's alright. Come here."

He tried his hardest to steady his nerves as Audrey pulled him into a gentle, comforting embrace. There was a time recently when he would have had to keep an ear out for approaching footsteps, knowing full well what sort of a scandal it might cause if he and a lady such as Audrey were shown displaying such familiarity with each other. He supposed it was no longer a concern, although he still imagined that anyone who saw the two of them would certainly be thinking, 'What in the world could she doing with him?' He especially felt so after that night.

"I'm so very sorry. You invited all those important guests, and I've made such a scene…"

Audrey pulled away again so she could look into his face. Her gaze was intent, but no less kind than it had ever been when she looked at him. "I don't care about them now. I care about you."

There was something she had been thinking hard about. Something that had started off as a bit of wishful thinking about being able to run away from everything, then turned into an actual idea, and then a plan that had started to form. She had felt reluctant to put it into motion, only because the idea of trying to take any sort of control over her own life was still quite unfamiliar to her. But now, she had begun to think that it was necessary if she didn't want to see the man she loved continuing to be tormented by the pressures of courtly life.

"Seymour, I have been thinking… perhaps we should leave all of this."

He was clearly surprised and more than a little confused, but he stayed silent so she could continue to speak her mind, a courtesy that no one else ever tended to afford to her.

"I've never enjoyed any of this either, but I didn't want to let anyone down. And then I started thinking about how there must be people who would give anything to have this sort of life. And if the only reason they found me was an old trail of letters, then perhaps I could plant a few more and make them believe they found the wrong person."

Seymour thought it all sounded too good to be true. There was a chance for him to be with Audrey without needing the plant to elevate him to a higher station in life? He could truly be rid of it, and still be left with her? But as wonderful as it sounded, he had to be sure it was what she really wanted.

"Are you certain?" He glanced around at the lavish, sprawling grounds of the estate, and immediately self-doubt was written all over his face. "You must know I could never provide you with anything like this."

Audrey nodded, looking more sure of herself than he had ever seen her. "I am certain. This home is lovely, but I have always thought the flowers out in the countryside are just as beautiful as any of this, if not more so."

For the first time in a while, a smile that didn't look in any way distracted or anxious crept across his face. "Then we could really leave here? Together?"

Mirroring the bubbling sense of happiness, Audrey smiled in return as she nodded. "I've even been thinking of who I could point them towards. You remember those three sisters I would sometimes talk with back in our village? I would go and ask them if it was what they wanted first, of course. But they always spoke of bitterly of how they felt that they never had a chance of a better life. I know they would enjoy this, and they would be so good at it, too. And we could be free to go off and live however we choose."

"Oh Audrey, there's nothing I would love more. And I promise, I'll give you a wonderful life."

Grinning from ear to ear, Audrey reached out to give him one more quick embrace. "I'll make all of the arrangements as quickly as I can."

She soon rushed off again, eager to set her plan into motion. Seymour had never felt so happy and full of relief in his life. He and Audrey would be together and able to have the sort of happy, simple life they had always wanted. Surely nothing could go wrong now. Could it?