The air in Bangkok was heavy with incense and thunderclouds.
The monsoon had not yet broken, but the horizon threatened with roiling shades of iron and ash.
Inside the gilded halls of the Chakri Maha Prasat Throne Hall, the court of His Majesty King Vajiravudh II was in session.
It was no longer the fragile Siam of colonial dread.
This was a new Siam, a kingdom unbowed, emboldened by its alignment with the Central Powers, and fortified by the collapse of its historical tormentors.
On the walls hung massive banners embroidered in gold and crimson, bearing the Royal Elephant, once feared only in legend, now feared once more in truth.
At the center of the throne hall, beneath a great dome painted with scenes of Buddhist cosmic warfare, the young king sat on a lion-carved dais, robed in white and silver.
Before him stood three figures:
A German military advisor, one of Bruno's many overseas proxies.
