“Well, Prin, this was certainly not how I expected to spend my August,” Asir says two days later when I open the door with the twins standing behind me.

“But you’re excited, right?” Kasha says, clapping her hands together.

“Yes,” he assures her with a charming smile. Then he holds his hand out to Sasha and says, “Hello, I’m Asir Zaman, the new official major shareholder of Majesty Records and I’m incredibly excited about producing your demo album.”

“Yay!!!! We’re going to make a real demo! We’re going to make a real demo!” Kasha chants, jumping up and down.

It’s like old times, but new.

“Did you get my list, Prin?” Asir asks when we’ve all gathered in the kitchen.

“It’s in the fridge,” I answer, nodding toward the double-door Viking fridge I didn’t even know they made until we were searching for something to match the new Viking-brand stove in our ultra-modern kitchen.

Asir opens the fridge and sees the large assortment of kombucha, bone broth, and various other health foods he maintains he simply can’t work without.

“All right, we’re all set,” he says grabbing a bottle of artisanal kombucha. “Are you ready to make the album that will have labels, including my own, vying to sign you?” he asks the girls with a devastating smile.

Even Sasha has a hard time not making puppy love eyes at him. It soon becomes easy to see why Asir was my first crush. He is so Prince Charming in every way.

We work together seamlessly, starting with the first song I sent him in advance, and breaking it down until it’s ready to record. He claims not to have touched a beat program in the five years since he was forced to start the combined BA/MBA program he just finished at Manhattan University. But the mixes and beats he comes up with for the songs I sent make it sound like he never put them away.

And the twins, unlike a lot of the singers we worked with during the His Majesty years, have pure, flawless voices that don’t need much auto-tune correction. Other than a few notes, harmony, and break changes, the twelve songs stay together as we individually imagined them apart.

“Still got it,” Asir says, high-fiving me after the twins lay down the first track over Asir’s beat in one super easy take.

By the end of the third day of recording, we’re done. Not quite the Beatles debut album 13-hour record, but pretty good for a writer/producer team who haven’t worked together in over half a decade and two 18-year-old singers.

“I think the only problem you’re going to have is whittling it down to five songs for the demo,” Asir says before he returns to his apartment in New York to finish the mix.

Asir’s right about every song being strong enough to put on a debut album, but five in particular stand out as the clear winners after we listen to the full mix a week later.

The rule of thumb for demos is that acts should always organize the song tracks from the strongest song to the weakest, in case a busy music exec can’t be bothered to listen past the first track.

So when Asir plays the five winners, it feels like I’m hearing my life played in reverse in perfect harmony. “He’s Gone…“Now Is Where We Are”…“Beyond Naughty”…“Contract” and finally, “Crush”—a happy little party jam with a well-known 80’s riff that Asir promises to license for me as a thank you gift for getting Zahir to sign Majesty Records over to him.

“I’ll sign you right now,” Asir says as soon as we’re done listening to the final demo order on the couches in the music library. “They’ll be calling you the twin Adeles.”

“Sorry, we’ve already promised to give Roxxy’s label, Roxx Nation, a first listen,” I answer with an apologetic wince.

Asir makes a considering noise. “Girls, do you mind giving your sister and me a few minutes alone?”

“What’s up?” I ask, after they leave.

For as long as I’ve known him, Asir has had a basic setting of completely pleasant, never confrontational. But the candid look he throws me in answer to my question is as close to a “bitch, please” as I’ve ever seen him.

“You really thought I would finish this project without asking about you and my brother?”

“Oh…” I say, sinking back into the couch, disappointed that Asir, of all people, decided to straight point out the elephant in the room. “Can we not talk about it?” I ask hopefully.

“He’s my brother, Prin,” Asir points out.

“Your brother who had no business marrying me in the first place—even if it was just to save face,” I answer.

“Is that what he told you?” Asir asks.

“Isn’t that what happened?” I shoot back, shaking my head.

Asir leans forward on the couch to level with me. “Okay, Prin, the way Jahwar media works, Zahir could have easily said the pictures we’re doctored. Like, the Russians we’re out to get him or something, and everyone would’ve had to believe him or at least said they believed him because he’s the sheikh. Marrying you rather than just banning you from the kingdom forever was the opposite of saving face.”

I crook my head, barely able to believe what he’s telling me. “Then why didn’t he just do that?”

“I don’t know,” Asir answers, so much more American sounding than his brother. “We had lunch a couple times when he was in New York with you, but he said, ‘the subject of my wife is off-limits’ before I could even ask.”

I chuckle, “That sounds like Zahir.”

Asir laughs, too. “But you know what? I’ve never seen that side of him, Prin. He’s been my serious older brother all my life...the next king. I never knew he had…” Asir looks off to the side, searching for a word, and then comes back with, “joy inside him. I never knew he could be happy. Those were good lunches. I liked seeing him that way, especially after what happened with his mother.”

I’m not sure what to say. In some ways hearing this makes all those feelings I put into song feel even worse. That he was actually as happy as I was while he was here, but chose to leave me behind anyway…

“Anyway, I thought you should know he didn’t simply hit it and quit it with you,” Asir says poshing up his accent on “hit it and quit it.”

I chuff. “Okay, Asir. Thank you, I guess?”

Asir sobers. “There’s something else I need to talk to you about, Prin. First of all, thank you for getting Zahir to give me the freedom to choose my own life path.”

I shake my head, cutting him off right there. “Asir, no one should be able to give anyone else the freedom to do anything. No person owns another person’s freedom. You own your life, and no other man but you should get to make your choices. That’s American History 101.”

Asir nods. “Those are beautiful words, Prin, and they might make what I’m about to say that much stranger to you. But this week, producing the twins’ demo has led me to discover what I want might very well be what my kingdom wants for me. I’ve very much enjoyed working on this demo with you. It was like old times, and the twins are incredibly gifted singers who I believe will go far in this industry, especially with you representing them. But making this album didn’t feel like coming home to me. I have to wonder if maybe my dad wasn’t right. Music was a rebellion for me, a way to escape what I thought would be the golden shackles of royal life.”

“But you don’t feel that way anymore?” I guess, leaning towards him, like he’s leaning towards me.

Asir shakes his head. “The truth is, I’ve liked getting my degree. I have met a lot of other Arabs from around the world and made some very good connections. Now that I’m done at Manhattan University, I’ve been thinking of calling Zahir to tell him I’m ready to come home and serve as Prince of Jahwar.”

I smile, genuinely happy for Asir. “I’m glad! It sounds like you’ve got it all figured out.” But then I frown because, “Wait, what does that mean for Majesty Records?”

He bounces his head from side to side. “That’s what I wanted to talk to you about…before you sign with Roxx Nation.”