Theory- end of Onyx Storm

Hello guys, gals & pals. Buckle up and grab a tin foil hat because I'm going to convince you that the 'brother' Xaden is referring to at the end of Onyx Storm is actually Liam.

Here's what Xaden says in his POV at the end of OS:

"But the one who walks forward toward Panchek's cowering, traitorous ass, putting himself between Sgaeyl and me... He's a problem.
Not because he's more lethal. Not even because he's supposed to be dead.
But because I. Can't. Kill. Him. I could no more raise a blade to his throat than I could Violet. The bond between Violence and me is the kind of magic that has no explanation.
The bond between Berwyn and me is the kind that should never exist, and now that my Sage has another sibling he can use against me... I'm screwed."

At first read, I assumed that he was describing Berwyn, who should be dead by all accounts, the entire time. Now, I think he's talking about Liam approaching. Throughout OS we're given names of people that are like brothers to Xaden, but we're always told that the first one he thought of as a brother was Liam.

..."How could he do this? Choose this after watching me stumble and fall over the last five months. How could he willingly walk the path I've fought like hell to leave? He's the last person I ever would have expected to turn and yet here we are."

Hear me out- I think that Liam had a second secret signet like the other marked ones, and that it is dream walking. Xaden referring to this new sibling as the one who's watched him stumble or fall over the past 5 months could mean that he was talking to Liam in his dreams when he was all dark and broody after initially channeling, and probable the only one who really got to see all of Xaden's suffering. When we saw Liam talking with Violet in the cell in IF, she was in and out of consciousness.

"'Sleep if you can.' The suggestion is soft, the voice so achingly familiar that I squeeze my undamaged eye shut. *You're not really here. You're a hallucination from pain and dehydration. A mirage. '*Maybe,' Liam says, and I open my eye just enough to see him sit on the floor beside me... 'Or maybe Malek sent me as a kindness.' Malek doesn't do kindness. Nor does he allow souls to wonder about.... 'I'm not wandering, Violet. I'm exactly where I need to be.'"

If you're with me the this far, the question becomes can the venin resurrect people, or did Liam not actually die. Back in FW, Xaden carries Liam to be by Deigh.

"Liam's head rolls slowly as they both look. Xaden's head bows, and my great freezes in my lungs as shadows momentarily whip out around him, like a black of menace and sorrow. Seconds later, his soundless, soul-rending scream fills my head with such force that my hear shatters like glass against a stone floor. I don't need to ask. Liam is gone."

And then they're immediately back in the battle with the wyvern and venin. When Violet wakes up in Aretia, Xaden gives her the carving Liam made and he says "I know I should have, but I couldn't bear to burn it. We laid him to rest yesterday. Well, the others did. I haven't left this room since we got here."

Neither Xaden nor Violet witnessed Liam being burned. After Andarna breaks the bond with Violet, we're reminded that Jack Barlowe, having turned venin, was able to survive the death of his dragon. Could the venin have taken Liam, on the verge of death (possibly even passed out) and had him channel? If the others burned the battlefield with their dragon fire, would they have noticed in all of the carnage that he was gone?

Or maybe the venin do have the power to resurrect people. They are able to animate wyvern (and re-animate them) with rune stones. I'm still suspicious of Brennan and the rune on his hand.

Then again, maybe this entire thing is a coping mechanism that helps me to feel better about the way that Onyx Storm leaves off.