“If you don’t get your ass up right now, we’re coming to haul you back here. Your old job will look like—” I tuned Jason’s crony out. He was trying to piss me off, and I wasn’t going to let him have that much control over me.

“Your di Aetes steel is showing, you know,” Declan said.

“Huh?” I wanted to ask specifics but couldn’t.

“When I was growing up, I would’ve done anything to be part of your family. Your dad is the opposite of my father, but he takes no shit. The look on your face right now while those assholes are yelling at you? The determination? That’s all your father. You’re Amihanna di Aetes, and it shows.”

A tear rolled down my cheek. He didn’t know about my mantra. That whenever I wanted to give up, I had to remind myself that I was a di Aetes. Hearing that right then, when I was so close to giving up, meant I could keep going.

I stayed still for a second, just breathing in and out, letting the pain from my head flow down my body and out of my limbs.

I’m a di Aetes. I never quit. Not ever.

I rose on shaky feet, dusting myself off. “I’m fine.” It was a lie, but it sounded truthful when I said it.

The next cluster was much larger than any of the others I’d seen—over twenty crystals, some as thick as my forearm. One wide, arcing crystal linked the others in the cluster together. It was odd that there was no rhyme or reason as to which ones would be mineable. Some tiny ones gave off the worst tones. Some of the biggest ones were the weakest, but there was no guarantee.

I didn’t want to hit it even though it didn’t have any marks on it, but my life was filled with doing things I didn’t want to do. Mining lucole was just one more thing. One more very dangerous thing.

I licked my lips and picked one to test. The fat arcing one. It was the thickest, and hopefully that meant it was the least harmful. I swung the hammer down.

The high-pitched, whining tone crescendoed until it was all I could hear. The pain hit me hard and fast, and I fell, my back slamming into the ground.

The tone quieted, and my vision started to gray until it was black.

And then I was without sight and sound.

As I lay there, I wondered if this was it. If maybe I’d already died, and if the afterlife was just a dark hole where I’d spend eternity.