The super penthouse on the top floor of Badrutt's Palace Hotel.

Seven men had gathered in a living room that took in Lake St Moritz and the ridgelines of the Alps at a glance.

It was an unofficial space that even the hotel's own staff almost never mentioned to outsiders.

Its doors opened only for visitors at the level of heads of state, or for a tiny handful of the most elite invitees.

"It's been a while, Rupert."

"Albrecht. Still looking young, I see."

"Shouldn't His Highness be the one hearing that, rather than me?"

"If we're going to count ages, I'd better bow out."

Prince Faisal bin Nasser Al Saud laughed gently, and the mood around the table grew easier still.

Earl Rupert Hales. Sixty-four.

He was chairman of Hales Private Partners, which managed the assets of the British royal family and old noble houses.

To the outside world, he ran a small boutique law firm and financial house in London's Mayfair.

Behind that front, though, lay a tangled web: royal trusts, the old landholdings of dukes, marquesses and earls, and stakes in insurance, shipping, real estate, art and private companies.

What Rupert guarded was not simply money.

Family histories and rights, even the old privileges of British high society, all passed through his hands.

Beside him sat Albrecht von Eisenberg. He was fifty-five this year.

He was the current head of the Eisenberg house, which stood for the banking, insurance, chemical, precision-machinery and industrial-equipment capital linking Germany, Switzerland and Austria.

The Eisenbergs didn't match the Hales, but they still managed a good share of the assets of Europe's royals and nobles.

As a count, he carried one of Europe's oldest bloodlines, but his thinking was colder than anyone's; he reacted to moving numbers before he clung to tradition.

He'd drop even a century-old company if it had no value. On the other hand, if he judged that something might rule the next era, he was a bold investor who would put huge sums into a nameless startup.

Across from the two of them sat Prince Faisal bin Nasser…