The Lies We Conjure: Chapters 1–4

by Sarah Henning
Sisters Ruby and Wren accept a lucrative offer to impersonate an old woman's grandchildren at a dinner party. But when the hostess dies, the gates lock, and every other guest is a witch, Ruby and Wren wonder if they will escape alive.

Here are links to our lists for the book: Chapters 1–4, Chapters 5–12, Chapters 13–18, Chapters 19–26, Chapter 27–Epilogue
15 words 10 learners

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Full list of words from this list:

words only definitions & notes
  1. caftan
    a long loose dress or tunic
    Marsyas straightens and, with a dignified sniff, draws a photograph from somewhere beneath the voluminous fabric of her black caftan.
  2. foist
    force onto another
    I’d declined my bracelets when she’d foisted them upon me, but I was informed wearing them was nonnegotiable.
  3. disconcerting
    causing an emotional disturbance
    It’s so perfect it’s disconcerting. There’s not a single flaw.
  4. solarium
    a room enclosed largely with glass to allow sunlight in
    Evander tracks his prey from the solarium windows high above the garden.
  5. matriarch
    a female head of a family or tribe
    I also don’t need to move closer to catch the procession of two girls, tall and raven-headed, locking arms with a shorter, silver-haired matriarch.
  6. assess
    estimate the nature, quality, ability or significance of
    We gather, assess the situation, prepare in our own ways. Evander drinking; Winter preening; me reading until the very last moment; and, when our armor is firmly in place, we act as Ursula Hegemony’s generals.
  7. gallivant
    wander aimlessly in search of pleasure
    I’m the one who has been home with Ursula the longest since boarding school let out in June. The one who didn’t spend the first weeks of our summer gallivanting about.
  8. discerning
    able to make or detect effects of great subtlety
    Her posture is perfect, her expression discerning, her eyes, as usual, miss nothing.
  9. admonishment
    a firm rebuke
    She notes the book discarded at my side, Winter’s blush at the admonishment, the remaining scotch sweating it out in Evander’s spooked grip.
  10. animus
    a feeling of ill will arousing active hostility
    “Auden, I do not have to remind you, I’m sure, that a renewal of your previous little animus with Lavinia Blackgate will not be tolerated this evening.”
  11. gravitas
    formality, dignity, or seriousness
    To wit, Hector is all slicked-back hair and cigar smoke clinging to his navy suit coat and pants as he crashes into our three-person line with a showman’s gravitas.
  12. ethereal
    characterized by unusual lightness and delicacy
    Winter greets the younger Starwood with a gentle embrace that doesn’t upset the balance of their grandmother, and an enthusiastic compliment about the cut of their ethereal jumpsuit.
  13. topiary
    a garden having shrubs clipped into decorative shapes
    Then, before either of us can object, Winter claims our wrists, dislodges us from Marsyas, and aims us toward a fountain gurgling merrily among the expertly shaped topiaries.
  14. droll
    comical in an odd or whimsical manner
    I know who he is. And yet, I’m so startled—by him, by his droll accusation, by the stupid way my breath hitched—that I laugh.
  15. deadpan
    speak in a deliberately impassive or serious manner
    Evander simply meets Wren’s delighted expression, and deadpans, “I’d say sightings of the Blackgate heirs are much fewer and farther between.”
Created on Thu Oct 15 20:30:39 EDT 2026 (updated Fri Oct 23 13:04:32 EDT 2026)

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