The Cruel Prince: Chapters 21–25

by Holly Black
Seventeen-year-old Jude, who was kidnapped by a faerie soldier when she was a child, fights for a position of power in the faerie kingdom. This is the first book in the Folk of the Air trilogy.

Here are links to our lists for the novel: Prologue–Chapter 8, Chapters 9–14, Chapters 15–20, Chapters 21–25, Chapter 26–Epilogue
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Full list of words from this list:

words only definitions & notes
  1. revel
    unrestrained merrymaking
    I am a child again, hiding under a table, with the revel spinning around above me.
  2. bodice
    part of a dress above the waist
    There’s no easy way to draw my sword, crouched as I am under a table, so I grab for the knife inside my bodice.
  3. rivulet
    a small stream
    A thin rivulet of green liquid pours over his cheek.
  4. sleight
    adroitness in using the hands
    I have no idea when he took it off his finger, a neat bit of sleight of hand that I had no idea he could do, no less while inebriated.
  5. inebriated
    stupefied or excited by a chemical substance
    I have no idea when he took it off his finger, a neat bit of sleight of hand that I had no idea he could do, no less while inebriated.
  6. propensity
    a natural inclination
    Cardan is clever, but it’s not a nice kind of cleverness. And it’s a little too close to my own propensity for lying to be comfortable.
  7. exploit
    use or manipulate to one's advantage
    But I can’t help thinking that he will exploit any pity on my part, any weakness.
  8. inscrutable
    difficult or impossible to understand
    When we get to the hidden passageway, he crawls in with only a single inscrutable glance back at me.
  9. pallet
    a mattress filled with straw or a pad made of quilts
    I go into the back room with four pallets on the ground and a few mugs and discarded clothing spread out near them.
  10. truss
    secure with or as if with ropes
    “Will you tell me where exactly we are, now that I am trussed up to your satisfaction?”
  11. innocuous
    not causing disapproval
    There are mounds of correspondence. Lists. Notes neither to Dain nor from him, probably stolen. More in his hand—movements, riddles, proposals for laws. Formal invitations. Informal and innocuous letters, including a few from Madoc.
  12. intaglio
    a sunken or depressed engraving or carving on a stone or gem
    Instead, I am staring at the pile of notes, at the soft wax impressions, an intaglio in reverse.
  13. retainer
    a person working in the service of another
    “Think about it. If I knew what was going to happen, if I was on Madoc’s side, the only way I would be here is with a retainer of knights. You’d have been shot coming in the door. I would hardly have come alone, dragging along a prisoner that my father would dearly love to have.”
  14. outstrip
    be or do something to a greater degree
    I have imagined him afraid many times, but the reality outstrips those imaginings.
  15. despicable
    morally reprehensible
    “Only that Balekin despised Dain. I despised him as well. He was despicable. I didn’t know he’d managed to convince Madoc of that.”
  16. indignant
    angered at something unjust or wrong
    “What do you mean, despicable?” I ask, indignant, even with the still-healing wound on my hand. Dain’s death washed away the resentment I had for him.
  17. volatile
    liable to lead to sudden change or violence
    Balekin is cruel and volatile, two qualities not preferable in a monarch.
  18. hale
    exhibiting or restored to vigorous good health
    “So long as you swear Cardan will be here and hale when I return tomorrow, alone.”
  19. blanch
    turn pale, as if in fear
    Taryn looks up and blanches.
  20. grievous
    shockingly brutal or cruel
    “I challenge you,” I tell Taryn. “To a duel. For my honor, which was grievously betrayed.”
  21. paradoxical
    seemingly contradictory but nonetheless possibly true
    “Have we not already had a surfeit of death today?”
    Which seems like a paradoxical thing to say since he was the cause of so much of it.
  22. scabbard
    a sheath for a sword or dagger or bayonet
    He tosses a scabbarded Nightfell onto the ground in front of me, and then settles himself on a couch with legs in the shape of bird feet.
  23. dalliance
    playful behavior intended to arouse romantic interest
    He said nothing about a dalliance with Jude then, but when I asked a moment ago, he told me, ‘mortal feelings are so volatile that it’s impossible to help toying with them a little.’
  24. camaraderie
    the quality of affording easy familiarity and sociability
    Whatever camaraderie we found when he wasn’t there is gone.
  25. foppish
    overly concerned with extreme elegance in dress and manner
    “And if your sister is right and you do know where Prince Cardan is, give him to me. He’s a foppish sort of boy, no good with a sword. He’s charming, in a way, and clever, but nothing worth protecting.”
  26. coup
    a sudden and decisive change of government by force
    I think again of the coup that Madoc had planned with Balekin, wondering how it was supposed to go.
  27. grudgingly
    in a reluctant manner
    Perhaps grudgingly, but once threatened, Eldred would crown Balekin.
  28. impart
    transmit, as knowledge or a skill
    “Must I tell you that if your blade had struck true and you’d hurt Taryn, you would have regretted it all your days? Of all the lessons I imparted to you, I would have thought that was the one I taught you best.”
  29. emblazon
    decorate with heraldic arms
    Knights with his livery—three laughing birds emblazoned on their tabards—stand at attention in the hall.
  30. interminable
    tiresomely long; seemingly without end
    “What’s a single day in your eternal, everlasting, interminable life?”
  31. confidante
    a woman or girl to whom secrets can be entrusted
    “We were confidantes,” Oriana says. “She told me when she began her affair with Prince Dain..."
  32. prim
    exaggeratedly proper
    I cannot picture prim Oriana doing such a brutal, brave thing...
  33. dally
    talk or behave amorously, without serious intentions
    I even wondered if it could have been Eldred, if he had poisoned her for dallying with his son.
  34. regent
    someone who rules during the absence of the monarch
    If Oak was the High King, then Madoc could be the regent. He would rule over Faerie until Oak came of age.
  35. interject
    speak abruptly, especially as an interruption
    “I don’t mind being one-handed,” Cardan interjects. “But if you’re going to restrain both of my hands, then you’ll have to pour the wine directly into my mouth.”
  36. commandeer
    take arbitrarily or by force
    I lead him into Dain’s office, which I guess I’ve just commandeered for my own.
  37. splay
    widen or spread apart
    He holds up his hands in protest, long bare fingers splayed.
  38. wry
    humorously sarcastic or mocking
    “And if I shoot you anyway?”
    “You might well,” he says, wry. “But I want your word that you won’t.”
  39. adversary
    someone who offers opposition
    I consider all the things I have done to become a worthy adversary of him, but maybe I haven’t been fighting Cardan at all. Maybe I’ve been fighting my own shadow.
  40. sufferance
    the practice of accepting others' differing opinions
    You don’t have to live at the sufferance of the same person who murdered your parents.
Created on Mon Jul 01 17:06:34 EDT 2019 (updated Tue Jul 23 10:23:02 EDT 2019)

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