Buried in shame. Rising in power

CHAPTER FIVE — The Blood Oath of the Dominion

The convoy tore through the night like a line of black serpents, engines humming with cold precision. Mia pressed her forehead weakly against the window of the middle SUV, her wrists bound in front of her with sleek magnetic cuffs she still didn’t understand. The metal felt warm—alive—like it was reading her pulse.

But none of that frightened her as much as the silence.

Ethan hadn’t said a single word since they were captured.

He sat beside her, arms behind him, body tense, jaw locked. He wasn’t looking at her, or at the men surrounding them. His gaze was fixed out the window—hard, distant, dangerous.

He wasn’t the Ethan she knew.

He wasn’t the gentle man who used to cook noodles for her at 2 a.m., who smiled quietly whenever she walked into a room.

He was someone else now.

Someone she couldn’t yet understand.

The man across from them—Jordan Stone, the immaculate suit, the emotionless eyes—typed something on a tablet, glanced up, and spoke casually:

“The Patriarch will be pleased you finally stopped running, Young Master.”

Ethan didn’t respond.

Jordan’s lips twitched. “Though he’ll be… less pleased that you brought a liability.”

Mia felt her stomach twist. Liability. That meant her.

She shifted closer to Ethan instinctively.

Jordan noticed and smiled politely. “Don’t take it personally, Mrs. Cole. The Dominion rarely tolerates outsiders. Let alone ones who disrupt… bloodlines.”

“Bloodlines?” Mia whispered. “What are you talking about?”

Jordan tilted his head. “Ah. He didn’t tell you? How quaint.”

Ethan suddenly looked up—slowly—like an animal deciding whether to strike.

Jordan instantly shut his mouth.

The SUV descended into silence again until the convoy reached a wide, steel-reinforced tunnel. The gates opened on their own, scanning each vehicle with pale blue beams before swallowing them whole.

Mia’s heart hammered.

They weren’t heading to a police station or a government building.

This was underground.

Secret.

Protected.

The Dominion headquarters.

The SUV stopped beside a massive elevator, large enough to carry a truck. The doors slid open with a hiss.

“Everyone out,” Jordan ordered.

Ethan stepped out calmly, but Mia could see it—the subtle limp in his left leg where the bullet had grazed him, the stiff way he held his ribs, the blood drying under his shirt.

He was hurt badly.

And yet he moved like a man trying to hide that he could collapse any second.

Mia moved beside him, trying to help without drawing attention.

“Don’t,” he whispered—or maybe pleaded.

She swallowed her fear. “Ethan… talk to me. Please.”

His jaw tightened, but he didn’t push her away.

That single acceptance told her more than any words:

He was terrified of what awaited them beyond the elevator doors.

Inside, the enormous lift began descending, humming with layered mechanical locks. The deeper it went, the colder the air grew.

Jordan stood at the front, hands behind his back.

“The Patriarch has ordered a blood confirmation,” he announced. “Tradition demands that the Young Master reaffirm his lineage before stepping foot into the Core.”

Ethan closed his eyes.

Mia didn’t understand what that meant, but she felt the dread radiate off him.

“What does that mean?” she asked.

Jordan smiled politely. “A simple procedure. Painful, but simple.”

The elevator stopped.

The doors opened.

A vast chamber spread before them—circular, stone-like, ancient despite the advanced technology embedded in its walls. At the center stood a single pedestal holding a ceremonial blade, glowing faintly red.

Mia felt the temperature drop as Ethan exhaled shakily.

Jordan extended a hand. “Your blood, Young Master.”

Ethan walked forward slowly, almost reluctantly.

Mia felt a horrifying sense of wrongness. Everything in her mind screamed that this ritual—whatever it was—was not something Ethan wanted.

He picked up the blade.

The room lights dimmed.

Ethan lifted his left hand over the pedestal.

Mia stepped forward instinctively. “Stop! He’s bleeding—he’s hurt—this isn’t—”

Two guards gripped her arms, pulling her back.

But Ethan turned toward her.

Just a tiny turn.

Just enough for her to see what he’d hidden from everyone else:

Fear.

Real, human fear.

Not of the blood.

Not of the ritual.

But of what he would become the moment his blood touched the altar.

He lifted the blade.

And Jordan spoke softly, reverently:

“The Dominion welcomes you home… Prince Ethan.”

Prince?

The blade sliced across Ethan’s palm.

A single drop of blood fell.

The chamber shook—stone trembling, walls lighting up, symbols blazing out of nowhere. The altar absorbed Ethan’s blood like water into sand.

A deep hum filled the air, ancient and alive.

Then the walls displayed something—holograms, images, flickers of history—showing Ethan at five years old, then ten, then fifteen.

Training.

Bleeding.

Fighting.

Obeying the Patriarch.

Mia’s breath hitched.

This wasn’t a family.

This was a dynasty built on suffering.

Ethan stood motionless as the pedestal scanned his blood, sending a column of red light up the walls. His body shook—barely visible, but his knees almost buckled.

Jordan whispered, “The seal is awakening. Your powers were dormant too long.”

Ethan gripped the pedestal until his knuckles turned white.

“Mia…” he breathed.

She struggled against the guards. “Ethan!”

He turned his head slightly—a crack in the cold shell he’d tried to wear.

“If anything happens to me…” he whispered, voice breaking, “don’t trust anyone here. Not even the ones who smile.”

Before she could respond, the chamber exploded with blinding crimson light.

Ethan screamed—a raw, agonizing sound that shattered her soul.

His body arched.

The symbols flared hotter.

Something ancient and violent awakened inside him.

Jordan stepped back, eyes wide—not with concern, but awe.

“The Blood Oath… has accepted him.”

Ethan collapsed to his knees—breathing hard, trembling, sweat dripping, blood pooling beneath his hand.

Mia tore free from the guards, falling to her knees beside him.

“Ethan! Ethan, look at me!”

He raised his head…

His eyes were glowing red.

And he whispered, barely conscious:

“They’re going to use me… to start a war.”

Ethan’s true identity as the Dominion’s lost prince is now confirmed. His bloodline powers have reawakened—and they are far more dangerous than he ever wanted Mia to see. But the Patriarch has plans… and Mia is now trapped in the heart of the Dominion with a man who is no longer fully himself.