Raine
I'm not underestimated. I'm strategically ignored.
There's a difference. Underestimated means they didn't see me coming. Ignored means they did-and decided I didn't matter.
They buried me in a black site, broke me down to nothing, and when I wouldn't stay broken, sent me to die.
Asher doesn't save me.
He sees me.
With him, my need for order isn't a quirk to fix. My quiet isn't a challenge. My mind looping and recalibrating isn't a burden.
With him, I don't have to make myself smaller.
We don't plan to fall in love. It happens in the margins, between planning and contingencies, while everything around us is on fire.
Now we just have to stay alive long enough to expose the truth.
And burn the whole system to the ground.