"We can't keep doing this," Uma whispered, eyes far too old for such a young girl. Harriet sat bolt upright, ignoring the pain that flared from the wound on her chest.
Harry was scared. The look in his eyes was terrified and so, so young. "You could have died. And where would that leave the wee ones? Your crew? Your armor can't protect ye forever and we can't lose ye. It isn't worth it."
A look around her told her that everyone in the room shared the sentiment. Harriet's blood stilled and her mind went deadly calm. "Everyone line up. Now."
"That was a goddamn order, Uma," Harriet snapped. She forced herself out of bed and, cracked ribs be damned, pulled her shirt over her head, pointing to the tattoo on her chest as they followed her order. "What does that say?"
"Reasons to live give reasons to die," Harry whispered.
"Uma, what does that say?"
"Reasons to live give reasons to die," Uma repeated, refusing to meet Harriet's eyes.
"Uma, is your name on there?" Uma nodded. "Harry, is your name on there?" Harry nodded. "Calista Jane, Sammy, Diego, Anthony, Aeden, Faolan, Ginny- is there anyone in this room whose name isn't on this list?"
"No," a few of them muttered. That wasn't gonna cut it.
"I asked if there was anyone in this room whose name isn't on this list," She said, somehow shouting without raising her voice. That got her more of a response. "Harry, my brother. Calista, my sister. Uma, Freddie, Celia, Sammy, Skipper, Skyler, my cousins. Anthony, Ginny, Diego, my loves. Aeden and Faolan, my babies. All of your names are here. My reasons to live and my reasons to die. What does that mean, Sammy?"
Sammy shifted nervously. "That you live for us and would die to protect us."
"Exactly." She'd given Harry and Calista Jane a similar talk during the first gang war the two ever lived through, and now she was giving it to her entire family. "Die to save you. I will die to save anyone in this room. I will die to give everyone in this room a better life. That is the choice I made the day every single person in this room was born, and I will stay by this choice until the day I die. That is my choice."
Harriet held up a hand, cutting her off. "No buts about it. I'm doing this to give every person in this room, on this Isle, a better life. I'm fulfilling the promise I made when I got these names written. You can stand by me or not but I'm going to do it. If I have to do it alone then so be it, I will. Because you are my reasons to live and my reasons to die."
