under his control

The Sovereign Trajectory

Kale's POV

My phone was screaming, vibrating off the nightstand. I blinked against the light, brain still foggy, body still warm, and reached for it without thinking.

MOLLY.

What the hell. Molly? It was 9:02.

"Fuck."

“Pick it up,” Jace said beside me, voice low and unbothered. He was already sitting up, bare shoulders, sheets pooled at his waist. “You look like you’re about to have a panic attack. Answer it.”

I stared at the screen. Three missed calls. Two texts.

WHERE THE f**k ARE YOU

LECTURER DID A TEST YOU DUMBASS

“I can’t,” I muttered. “She’s gonna lose her shit...”

“Answer it,” he repeated. Not mean, just final.

I swiped.

“KALE!” Molly exploded before I could even say hello. “Are you f*****g serious right now? Do you have any idea what time it is? FYI... you missed the test. Again. Mr. Ralph literally asked if you’d been kidnapped. I said yeah, probably by your own stupidity.”

I sat up too fast and regretted it. My head spun and my waist ached. “I’m... I overslept,” I said, trying to sound normal and failing. “I’ll be in. Later.”

“Later?” she shrieked. “Kale, it’s second f*****g lecture now. You’re always waking up late. What were you even doing? Don’t tell me you were at the studio again. You promised me you wouldn’t...”

I hung up.

The silence after was worse.

Jace was watching me, one eyebrow raised. “That went well.”

“Really!!!,” I mumbled, dragging a hand through my hair.

I needed to move. Needed to get out of here, get to campus, pretend I was a normal student who didn’t spend nights in JMC Studios and mornings feeling like this.

I swung my legs over the side of the bed.

A hand caught my wrist. “Where are you going?” Jace asked.

“School,” I said, like it was obvious. “I’m already late. I’m gonna miss my lectures and Molly’s gonna murder me.”

He didn’t let go. “You’re not going like that.”

“Like what?”

“Exhausted. Panicked. And wearing yesterday’s clothes.” He stood, casual, and walked to the wardrobe. “Sit down. Eat first.”

“I don’t have time...”

“You do now,” he cut in. “Ten minutes. That’s all I’m asking.”

Ten minutes. I could spare ten minutes. Couldn’t I?

I sat back on the bed because arguing with Jace when he’d made up his mind was like arguing with a brick wall. And the wall usually won.

He came back with a tray. Actual breakfast. Eggs, toast, coffee that smelled so nice and expensive. He set it on my lap like I was something fragile.

“Eat,” he said.

I did because I was starving and because his eyes didn’t leave me until I took the first bite.

The whole thing was surreal. Yesterday I was stormed into his studio angry and today he was feeding me like I belonged here.

My phone buzzed again on the nightstand. Molly.

I ignored it.

When I finished, he disappeared into the wardrobe and came out holding something folded over his arm. “Wear this,” he said, tossing it on the bed.

It was a black shirt. It looked simple but would definitely cost a fortune. “I’m not.. Jace, I can’t wear this to school.”

“You’re not going to school,” he said, like I’d missed the memo. “You’re coming to the studio. We have work.”

“We have a semi-final in two weeks,” I said weakly. “I can’t just bail. Molly’s already gonna tell everyone I’m a deadbeat.”

"How many people can make you pass one university test? Hundreds. How many people can make you a star?

One... Me."

I didn't argue again. I grabbed my bag and followed him down the corridor toward the studio's back entrance. Then my phone lit up again.

MOLLY: bro answer me or i swear to god

MOLLY: are u alive???

I shoved the phone face down. I'd deal with Molly later. By the time we reached the studio floor, JMC was already buzzing with activity. The second the doors opened, heads turned.

Peter was by the soundboard, arms crossed. And next to him was a girl I didn’t recognize. Tall. Sharp bob. A pair of violet headphones rested around her neck. She literally looked like she’d walked out of a music video and decided to stay.

“Bri,” Peter said by way of introduction, nodding toward her. “New artist. Signed last week.”

Bri gave me a small smile. “Kale,” she said. “Heard a lot about you.”

I nodded, unsure what to say. Everyone was looking at me. Jace didn’t acknowledge it. He just walked straight to the producer’s chair, his chair, and pulled it out. “Sit,” he told me.

I blinked. “That’s your seat.”

Peter's eyebrows climbed for half a second before he hid it with a cough.

“It is now,” Jace said. “Sit.”

So I did. The leather was still warm. And suddenly the whole room shifted. Engineers, assistants, even Peter. They all started talking to me. Asking me about keys, about tempo, about what I wanted for the CGT semi-finals track.

Jace leaned against the desk beside me, arms folded, letting me lead. Like I was the one in charge.

It should have felt good. It did feel good. My chest was light in a way it hadn’t been in months.

“We’re thinking stripped back for the first verse,” I said, pulling up the demo on the screen. “Then bring the drums in hard on the chorus. Make it feel like...”

My phone buzzed on the desk.

I ignored it. It buzzed again. And again.

Jace glanced down. “You going to get that?”

“It’s probably Molly,” I said. “She’s still pissed.”

But when I picked it up, it wasn’t Molly.

It was the same unknown Number.

"you’re already getting comfortable. That’s his way to seduce you and I’m sure he has already claimed you."

My blood went cold.

I read it twice. Three times. The words didn’t change.

“Problem?” Jace asked, noticing.

I locked the screen fast and shoved the phone in my pocket. “No,” I said too quickly. “Just spam.”

Peter was still talking about Bri’s release schedule. Bri was watching me now, too. Everyone was talking, laughing, moving around me like I belonged.

And I was sitting in Jace’s chair, wearing Jace’s shirt, eating Jace’s breakfast, with a message in my pocket telling me exactly how this probably looked.

Getting comfortable. Claimed.

The word sat heavy in my stomach.

Jace reached over and tapped the screen in front of me. “Focus,” he said. “This is important. You are important.”

And for a second I believed him. I forced a smile and nodded. “Yeah. Let’s work.”

Not yet.