She needed to know exactly how much danger Jin was in.
"You'd be correct," Graydon pressed a kiss onto the top of her head. She felt him pick up a strand of hair to play with. "The masters have always been obsessed with immortality. I'm not talking about the way Tuann can live for long years unless they're killed either. They wanted true immortality. The kind that never fades and can never be destroyed."
"And these soul bound are part of that?"
"In a sense," Graydon said. "The masters created machines and then they separated the souls of their slaves and bound them to those machines."
Kira could see how someone who cared nothing for moral or ethical boundaries would venture down that path.
Inserting their consciousness into machines would get rid of the inherent weakness of a body that would eventually die and decay. A machine could constantly be modified and fixed as long as its programming remained untouched.
"What was the result of these experiments?" Kira asked carefully.
"Failure due to the complete and utter madness of every single being the binding was used on."
Kira held herself rigid, almost afraid to breathe.
Jin wasn't insane. Cocky, yes. Immature, at times. But crazy? No.
Despite that, Kira could see why those former soul bound had gone mad. The potential was there in Jin. Without the link between them, Jin very well could have descended to those depths.
"Their madness didn't stop the masters from finding a use for them," Graydon continued. "They lacked a conscience or any sense of right and wrong, but they still possessed enough cunning to serve as the masters’ guard dogs. A side effect of the process made them much more obedient to the masters than the rest of us."
"What happened to them?" Kira asked, lifting her head.
"We put them down when we escaped," Graydon informed her. "Every last one."
They stared at each other as Kira came to a realization.
"How long have you known?" Kira finally asked.
Graydon brushed her hair behind her ear, his expression gentle. "Since theuhva na."
So long.
Kira pressed her lips together, not sure what to think.
Graydon was the Emperor's Face. This wasn't the sort of secret he could keep—not without drawing accusations of treason.
"Why haven't you told anyone?"
It was clear to her that even with his suspicions he hadn't made a move. If he had, Jin's welcome would have been much different.
It was likely they both would have been arrested and tried before being sentenced to death.
Graydon exhaled softly. "Despite what our records indicate, I see no sign of madness or cruelty in Jin."
The tight feeling Kira's chest loosened at that statement.
Jin was her dearest friend. She wasn't sure what she would do if there was a serious threat to his wellbeing.
She did know she wouldn't walk away from him. If the Tuann and Roake couldn't reconcile themselves to his existence, there would be no future for Kira among them either.
"How did it happen?" Graydon asked.
Kira shook her head. "I don't know."
To this day, she wasn't exactly sure how Jin's soul had ended up in a machine. Her memories of that night were hazy and indistinct.
