December 1911. India is in a tizzy. The old walls of Mughal Delhi are bedecked, as the British are hosting a grand durbar to celebrate the coronation of the new king, George V. Cooling his heels at the Majestic Hotel as he awaits the king’s arrival, a bored Maharaja Sikander Singh of Rajpore is paid a surreptitious visit by two British officers, who insist that he accompany them to the king emperor’s camp. There, an old friend, Malik Umar Hayat Khan, ...
