The word Sharrim occurs 23 times in Magic Binds. Sharrim means “of the king.” It is spoken by Ghastek, by Roland’s retainers, by sahanu, and even by Nick, who is trying to twist the knife in the wound, because this word is used to remind Kate where she comes from.
The one person who never uses “Sharrim” is Erra. Erra calls Kate Sharratum. Queen. She does so because Erra doesn’t owe her power to anyone. She doesn’t need her father to legitimize her, and she recognizes Kate in the same way, as family, queen by bloodline and right, powerful independently of Roland.
There is one more person who reminds Kate where her power comes from and who is found of the word disobey.
The gates of Mishmar’s wall flew open. A sphere of fire and light rolled onto the bridge and broke apart, revealing my father. His face was dark. A blood spear formed in his hand.
“YOU DISOBEYED ME AGAIN, MY DAUGHTER.”
I’d never seen him this pissed off. Not even when I fought with him at his castle. I pulled Sarrat out of its sheath.
Behind us, Mishmar trembled and bellowed like a tornado. I turned around. The tower shuddered. The strange birds took to the sky, their guttural cries swallowed by the noise. Car-sized chunks of concrete and stone broke loose and tumbled down.
“SHARRIM!” My father’s voice rippled with magic. If the bridge had been metal, it would’ve melted in fear.
“It’s not my fault!” I yelled back.
“STUBBORN, IGNORANT, IMPERTINENT CHILD! I TOLD YOU NOT TO COME HERE. I WILL KEEP YOU HERE UNTIL YOU LEARN TO OBEY ME!”
Oh crap.
You’ve got to read a little better, darlings. 🙂
Haha love you guys
Oh, well. Does this mean I’ll get kicked out of the BDH? LOL
Hahaha thanks for clearing that up!
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ZING! You got us! =)
btw, how is the moving going?
I love that picture.
Ooooh. Am in awe of authorlords once again for the amt of detail that goes into the book.
So… will we know who Kate had the convo with? 😀
Cessie
curled fingers or ” marks
” . . . ignorant impertinent child . . .” = clue
although in my own defense, when Pops gets to the bellowing, blustering thing . . . like every dutiful child I tune him out . . . jus saying
Yay! A tiny snippet for my birthday! Thanks!
(and yes, I know is not a new one, details, details LOL)
I had the same thought!! Also, happy birthday 🙂
Maybe because I have read them all at least 7 times is why I got it right.?
I’ve read them 4-5 times but can’t retain info for shit. I chose Curran (even though it felt ooc of him) because Id assumed he was being a sarcastic ass. I have trouble keeping track of secondary characters and names too 😡
I knew the “disobey” part was the clue and no “Sharrim”. Several people call her that for various reasons. It’s expecting Kate to “obey” that makes someone unique.
Yeah, that’s why I ruled out Roland in my guess (I went with Nick). Roland has already tried to give her orders several times and she hasn’t obeyed yet, so I figured he’d figured out by now that giving her orders doesn’t work. I figured Nick because he might have tried ordering her as his position as the head law enforcement guy at the Order, and he’d call her Sharrim just to piss her off.
Yes that
I voted Roland, but in the comments I said I also thought it might be Nick. For the same reasons you state. He’d call her Sharrim and yell at her about “disobeying” him just to see her head explode. I’d love to hate Nick, but I can’t help but like him.
I voted Gastro because he calls her that and in certain situations he is just arrogant enough to expect her to follow orders ?
Same:-)
I picked Ghastek too! Just sounded like him!
I got it right ** superior dance** Oh, yeah! 😀
Me too. I went with my gut
Me three! Tee, hee!
Me four.
I didnt vote because i was not sure, but i am happy one hunch was right 🙂 Thank you for the snippet! I hope you are well and the moving is smooth.
Can’t wait!
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I just couldn’t see Roland using the “Rush Hour” quote. Ghastek, yes, Jim, maybe. But Roland, no. Jim might use Sharrim like Nick would, but Ghastek would never, ever accuse Kate of disobedience to him. Roland was, however, the only one who could use the word “disobey” (except for Curran – and it so wasn’t Curran), so I was a little torn. Jim, as Beast Lord, might and Nick might because they are arrogant assholes. Yes, in the final analysis, it’s Roland. Albeit, a strange Roland. His humor to date has been gentle and perhaps out-of-date. But a pop culture reference?
I hate to break it to you but parents everywhere have used this exact phrase for decades before Rush Hour came out. In fact, my mother used it frequently in Russian. With devastating results. 🙂
Lol
Are you saying this was not a “Rush Hour” reference? I actually love your pop culture references. They help keep me grounded when I just want to live in the worlds you create and have these wonderful characters as my friends.
Ah. That was the line that made me doubt it was Roland.
Since Rush Hour, that line (for me) comes with Tucker’s tone and delivery, and I couldn’t see Roland that way. I guessed Adora, though a) she said she wouldn’t call Kate ‘sharrim’ anymore, and b) she likely wouldn’t accuse Kate of disobeying. So I knew my guess was most likely wrong.
Can’t wait to read the exchange in context.
After I voted, I notice the two magic words “Magic Binds”, then I realized that it was Roland and not Erra to whom Kate was talking to. Oh well. At least I narrowed it down between the two of them. I’ll blame my error on the bouncy weather (that’s my story, and I’m sticking to it). 😀
I didn’t pick Roland because I assumed they were not speaking at this point. I went with Jim, since he is the Beast Lord. Ah well, c’est la vie.
Which language do Sharrim and Sharratum come from? I tried searching for it but don’t think I found the right translation.
Try googling sharratum. 🙂
I read that the word is in the Akkadian language. Some websites mention Old Babylonian and Sumerian as dialects or related languages.
I’m pretty sure I’ve seen all of these words in the Kate books.
I was going to say Roland because the phrase “you deliberately disobeyed me” was said by Mufasa and they are both dad’s with disobedient children….
All that power and knowledge and Roland doesn’t know what happens when a parent says “I forbid you to do that”…
Happy Friday to all!
Puahahahaha too true!
In his defense he hasn’t raised his kids. He kills them.
Not until after they are grown and then try to overthrow him.
thank you for explaining and disclosing the speaker. I will now reread the entire series, including the Curran POV in the right order, so as to be ready for Magic Triumphs. I win.
Slightly off topic, but when you said we’ve got to read a little better it reminded me…
I recently reread the earlier books. I can’t keep the titles straight, but it’s the one where Kate goes to Ed’s house. (I can’t remember how to spell her full name, so it’s either call her Ed or Baba Yaga or the Russian witch. I like Ed as a witch’s name.) When Kate is there and Ed says they’re related, she mentioned that Kate’s mother came back shortly after getting together with Roland to attend her (Kalina, Kalinda?) mother’s funeral. But a few books later, when they meet Roland at Applebee’s, he tries to get Kate to leave by saying that her material grandmother is dying back in Seattle. We know Roland was trying to play Kate to get her to leave, but did he not know that Kate knew her grandmother was already dead, or did I miss something during the reread?
No i had asked about this too (email) supposedly it will come out somewhere/somehow but not spoilers were given *whomp whomp*
Wow, great catch.
Ok I didn’t think of that. But in the same token didn’t she want to go and meet the Grandmother but decided better because he was using this unknown person for his own gain?
I’ve answered this several times. 🙂
https://getyarn.io/yarn-clip/c220e3a6-f72f-4dc7-9cde-10c5f1b431dc
Sorry, don’t remember those mentions. Can you point me to one?
I always assumed that Evdokia was lying, at least about some things. I mean, here is Kate in the heart of the witches territory, remembering things that she previously had not. A witch who is related to Kate’s mother. Kate’s mother who had the power to enchant. For all Kate’s raw power she knows very little about how to wield her own magic. She relies on brute Force magic attacks. Stands to reason a subtle magic might go unnoticed by her, for a while anyway. Especially when practiced by someone who is familiar with Kate’s magic.
Because of this, I suspected when first reading that scene that at least some of what Kate was feeling and remembering was planted. Kate didn’t fall for the rather obvious attempt at manipulation, but the memories stayed with her. The experience left it’s mark.
Then there was the paper Evdokia wanted Kate to sign. Kate does, Curran asked if this is a thing, Kate says it’s no big deal. Okay, fine. No big deal. Then why was it part.of the deal?
Here’s what I think happened. During that trip down memory lane, Evdokia set out to gain a measure of Kate’s trust. And she succeeded. The end goal being to get Kate to sign the acknowledgement of kinship thingy.
Or maybe I’m seeing monsters in shadows. We’ll find out sooner or later.
No, Evodkia had no reason to lie, but Roland did.
Yes, much more likely.
Ok my gosh, that’s so wild, I just got finished rereading Magic Slays, and I caught that exact sentence and thought about Roland at Applebee’s. It would have been great if Kate could have busted Roland right there and said, “You mean my grandmother whose funeral my mother attended before I was born?
Oh, and I didn’t know anyone called the witch “Ed”. Her name is Evdokia.
Well, that makes me feel better! I had immediately voted Roland, completely confident. I’d never even considered anyone else ….. until I read all the comments. Then I was totally second-guessing myself. I hadn’t even thought of any of the arguments people had for other characters! Glad to know my gut instinct was spot on.
Me tooooo
Yes, me three!
I love the picture you posted. She is beautiful and looks regal and powerful. A perfect Sharratum. The crown is on point!
Ditto.
First, I love the picture too. It exudes royal power. And, I was right!!! Yeah me!!
I also wanted to add, (I know we shouldn’t ascribe too much to any photo of the characters), but the photo with the ‘Guess the Character’ post was the best, IMO, for a likeness of Kate. There have been so many different faces. Kate always downplayed her looks, which I suppose is a very normal thing, but judging reactions from Curran and many others, I think she just didn’t see herself truthfully. That face was beautiful and intelligent somehow. Just right.
Thank you Ilona!
Yaaaay! Honestly, I searched My Kindle version for Sharrim and hit on the Mishamar event. Totally obvious then. ?
Yeah, but Erra COULD have used Sharrim also!!! Darn it. No soup for me.
Does anyone know when the next book is coming out? I’m wondering if I can perfectly time rereading the series…?
Amazon says May.
Yep, I got it right. Roland is the only one who would use “disobey” on Kate.
I guessed right! ?
Yes!!!I knew it was Roland!!!!
Well. It’s nice to know that despite everything Kate and dad are still talking.
Also, maybe I chose Erra because I just like her better than Roland. She’s an onion. He’s a douchebag.
I like Erra too. I get amused every time she pops up. I know she’s insane, but she’s still funny.
I love Erra too!! She’s just Hilarious. She brings just the right amount of family drama to throw Curran off balance. I think of her as that one family member who takes it upon herself to annoy Curran whenever possible. My favorite line by here is in magic binds when she was like “and you’ll be marrying him? Is there a shortage of men?”- sorry if I was misquoting. Lol
Well, dang…. a good excuse to reread the series… #WinningAtLife
Congratulations to everyone who chose Roland.
I got it right!!!
Time to toot my own horn
I got it right
Love your work guys keep em coming
I didn’t think that “Do you understand the words that are coming out of my mouth?” sounded like something Roland would say. Too modern, I guess. Oh well! I guess I’ll have t o reread the series again, because I failed so dramatically.
. . . . I picked Errands. ¡Love siento!
Huzzah!!! I chose Roland. ?
I had thought it was him (tone, choice of language from both, etc) , but the helpful little clue meant that I searched Magic Binds to confirm. It also mean that I delayed voting for quite a while as I kept getting sucked back into the story and reading great big chunks of it. Oh, how sad for me. ???
Roll on Kate 10 and Hugh’s book!
Well crap, my choice was Roland or Erra. I chose Erra because I thought she had warned Kate away from something and now she was being sarcastic calling her Sharrim and telling her she was acting like her father.
I guess I got too excited and didn’t think it through. My bad…but HAVE YOU GUYS SEEN THE NEW STAR WARS? No spoilers…it was fantastic. Now I just hope I live another two years to see how all this ends.
I’m seeing it today.
See, I was so torn between Roland and Nick. I went with Nick–dang it! It just sounded like something he would say. He never wastes an opportunity to throw Kate’s parentage in her face and this seemed like one of those times. Oh well. Win some, lose some. Thanks for the snippet and best of luck with the move!
What was the final vote tally?
Well, I did try and tell everyone that the snippet was almost exactly word for word from that scene in Magic Binds. I DID read carefully! When are y’all coming to MBTB next year? I am going to assume for book releases, any extras?
See and here I thought Roland was too obvious, so I thought Authorlords were trying to trick us. Didn’t know it was as straightforward as that.
YAAAAY!! I got it right and for exactly the reason I gave for my answer!
Masters Ilona and Andrew, this student is well studied. 😉
I chose Roland because he is the only one who would expect obedience. Not that he ever gets it.
Yaay I got it right! I also did remember the bit in Magic Binds about disobedience….so i am pretty pleased with me own self! 😀
I had been going back and forth between either Erra, Roland, and Ghastek. Ruled out Erra because I figured there would be some sort of battering and violence going on if Erra was talking about kate “disobeying” her. So I was bouncing between Roland and Ghastek. Eventually chose Ghastek because I figured he would be more likely to have been talking to Kate about her whereabouts and would have expected some sort of compliance. We all know that if Roland says to kate not to go somewhere, kate will be there. Thought Roland would have figured this out by now.
After all, Ghastek is now Kate’s legatus so I figured he would have some say in terms of where she should or should not be.
I chose Roland too, go me! I’ve been rereading various series lately so I can pick them up and put them as necessary. There are going to be some great books out next year!
Haha! Must gloat. I got it riiiight. *looks smug*
But really, there is no one that would dare to order Kate around like that anymore except for her daddy (if they value their lives, that is… haha). Oh, and maybe Erra. But it wasn’t her. She is always much more sarcastic. 😉
Thank you! Each story has been unique, entertaining and I can’t tell you how many times I have relistened over and over.
Good moving!
Merry Christmas
Oh, oh, oh.. I thought it was Erra, but of course… The picture is amazing!
Woohoo! I got it!!
I was in the middle of rereading the series, and was literally a chapter or so before Roland calls Kate Sharrim.
I guessed wrong. Should’ve read faster, I guess.