Liam Mairi

Liam is introduced with spiky blond hair.

Violet remembers Liam with blond hair and sky-blue eyes after his death.

Liam is courteous, funny, and helpful during the week he spends shadowing Violet. He signs fluently, fixes the squeak in the library cart, flirts with Jesinia, and keeps carving small wooden figurines while on guard duty.

He keeps his promise to protect Violet even when it requires him to attend the Reunification Day party, an event celebrating the executions of rebel parents like his own. Violet understands the choice as repayment for her saving his life during War Games.

Liam is Isaac Mairi’s son and was separated from his younger sister after the rebellion. He and Xaden were fostered together at Tirvainne under Duke Lindell, and Liam says Xaden trained him to fight and is the reason he survived his first round of challenges.

Liam’s duty to Violet is complicated by real friendship. He admits that he reports most of what she does to Xaden because Xaden worries, but he also agrees to keep Jack Barlowe’s challenge from Xaden as long as withholding it does not change Violet’s safety.

At Athebyne, Liam acknowledges that he and Violet are friends while still saying he owes Xaden everything. Violet is furious that he watched her fall for Xaden while knowing Xaden’s secret, but Liam stays beside her and resumes guarding her.

After Resson, Xaden calls Liam his foster brother and blames himself for ordering Liam to keep Violet safe. Liam’s death leaves Xaden grieving both a member of his inner circle and someone he had personally entrusted with Violet’s protection.

Sloane Mairi is Liam’s younger sister, and Violet recognizes her by her blond hair, sky-blue eyes, and rebellion relic when Sloane crosses the parapet. Violet’s promise to Liam leads her to break the no-advice rule to help Sloane survive.

Violet tells Sloane that Liam was one of her closest friends, that she promised him while he was dying to look after Sloane, and that she misses him every day. She also reveals that she recovered fifty of Liam’s letters for Sloane and uses one letter a week as leverage to make Sloane train.

Recovered correspondence from Liam to Sloane says that Sloane is going to love Violet, describes Violet as smart and stubborn, and warns Sloane to remember that Violet is not her mother.

Sloane later uses Liam’s memory to justify helping Violet, saying Liam made his choice and would want Sloane to make Violet as prepared as possible.

Violet knows Liam as the top cadet among the first-years because he crossed the parapet with exceptional speed and defeated every opponent on assessment day.

On Presentation Day, Liam records the fastest first-year time on the Gauntlet and earns the Gauntlet patch.

Xaden describes Liam as statistically the strongest first-year in the quadrant, with the fastest Gauntlet time, no lost challenges, and a bond to an exceptionally strong Red Daggertail.

Liam’s signet is farsight, which he formally identifies as his gift when King Tauri asks about it at the Reunification Day party.

At Resson, Liam uses farsight to identify venin and fights from dragonback and at close range. He kills a venin rider by leaping from Deigh onto a wyvern and cutting the rider’s throat with a runed dagger, and he and Deigh later risk themselves to protect Tairn from another wyvern.

Liam regularly carries wood and carves small figurines while he guards Violet.

After Liam dies, Xaden keeps the palm-sized Andarna carving Liam had been working on instead of burning it with his belongings, then gives it to Violet when she asks whether Liam is truly dead.

Liam leaves a twine-bound stack of letters hidden beneath his mattress in his Basgiath room. Violet retrieves the letters before the Death Roll and has Rhiannon hide them so officials cannot take and burn them with his other belongings.

During War Games, Jack Barlowe stabs Liam through the side and kicks him off Deigh. Violet uses Andarna’s gift so Tairn can catch him before impact, and Liam survives badly wounded in the infirmary.

At Resson, Deigh dies and Liam has only minutes left. Before he dies, Liam asks Violet to take care of Sloane, urges her to hear Xaden out, and tries to warn the others that the venin riders must be killed.

Liam’s final warning is confirmed when Violet kills a venin rider and three riderless wyvern immediately fall from the sky. The result shows that killing a venin also kills the wyvern that venin created.

During Varrish’s torture, Violet sees Liam either as a hallucination caused by pain and dehydration or as a presence she cannot explain. He encourages her, warns her not to fall for Varrish’s manipulation, helps her understand that Xaden is not already in custody, and tells her she never failed him.

Liam’s presence or hallucination stays with Violet until the rescue begins, telling her that Varrish did not break her before stepping back toward the shadows.