Serafina and the Seven Stars: Chapters 46–64

by Robert Beatty
In this finale to the series, Serafina, now the thirteen-year-old appointed Guardian of Biltmore with her own beautiful bedroom, has difficulty enjoying the peace that she has brought about.

Here are links to our lists for the novel: Chapters 1–7, Chapters 8–13, Chapters 14–30, Chapters 31–45, Chapters 46–64
40 words 7 learners

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Full list of words from this list:

words only definitions & notes
  1. conciliatory
    intended to placate
    He walked right toward the white deer, raising his open hands in a conciliatory manner as he went.
    “There’s nothing to fear from us,” he said softly, his voice as smooth and soothing as when he talked to a spooked horse.
  2. amends
    something done or paid to make up for a wrong
    “We can help you adjust to this world. Whatever we have done, we can make amends. We can live in peace together.”
  3. impervious
    not admitting of passage or capable of being affected
    “It’s going to be all right,” Braeden said in his soothing tone, seemingly impervious to fear.
  4. singe
    burn superficially or lightly
    The smell of singed furniture and acrid smoke filled the air.
  5. stupor
    a state of being half-awake
    Serafina shook herself out of the mesmerized stupor, feeling the focus of her dilated eyes coming back to her.
  6. confound
    be confusing or perplexing to
    She immediately grabbed Braeden by the arm and yanked him back into the Library, nearly pulling him off his feet but finally breaking the confounding power of the deer’s stare.
  7. plume
    anything that resembles a feather in shape or lightness
    Amid all the violence and destruction, Serafina looked up to see a large white swan flying down the length of the Tapestry Gallery toward her, flapping in deep, graceful pulls that curled the plumes of smoke at the tips of its outstretched wings.
  8. gouge
    make a groove in
    Another griffin stormed into the Library, its clenching claws shredding the Persian carpets and gouging the walnut woodwork as its slashing beak knocked the brass lamps to the floor, shattering their glass globes.
  9. flank
    the side between ribs and hipbone
    As she leapt toward it, she lifted her paw and took a mighty swipe, striking it right across its flank.
  10. strew
    spread by scattering
    When she reached the scorched walls and demolished remnants of the Main Hall, furniture and suitcases were strewn across the limestone floor.
  11. befall
    happen or be the case in the course of events or by chance
    In all the turmoil and violence that had befallen the house, her pa must have stayed behind and run upstairs to the Louis XVI Room to find her.
  12. revulsion
    intense aversion
    Whenever she had thought of this moment, she had imagined her pa roiling with dismay, turning away from her in revulsion at the unnatural creature she was, and angry at how dishonest she had been to hide it from him all this time.
  13. intact
    undamaged in any way
    Mr. Doddman, the security manager, was cramming the elderly Mrs. Ascott and a half dozen other guests into one of the carriages that was still intact.
  14. maw
    the mouth, jaws, or throat
    But just as it opened its fanged maw to bite her and drag her down, a bullet sent it rolling across the ground, falling dead in her wake.
  15. bog
    wet spongy ground of decomposing vegetation
    She traveled down into a low river valley, then scrambled under the trunks of wind-toppled trees and through a bog of chokeberry and fetterbush.
  16. foliage
    the collective amount of leaves of one or more plants
    But at that moment, the white deer emerged from the foliage.
  17. reverberate
    have a long or continuing effect
    Her ribs reverberated with splintering pain as she crawled rapidly across the ground.
  18. maelstrom
    a violent commotion or disturbance
    A great, swirling maelstrom of wind and debris and flying gravestones rose up from the ground.
  19. barrage
    the heavy fire of artillery to saturate an area
    Serafina hunkered behind the pedestal, bracing herself for the barrage.
  20. inert
    unable to move or resist motion
    Unlike the inert, lifeless stone of Biltmore’s statues, the angel in the glade was filled with a deep and powerful spirit all her own.
  21. cusp
    the point of transition when something happens or changes
    The angel raised the fullness of her great gray feathered wings up above her shoulders and her head, and she held them there, trembling, on the cusp of unimaginable transformation.
  22. clamorous
    conspicuously and offensively loud
    She tried to suck in a breath, but there was no air to breathe, just wilding wind and clamorous noise.
  23. rend
    tear or be torn violently
    The sword didn’t cut through the white deer. Its tip sliced open the earth and sky, as if rending a seam in the fabric of the universe.
  24. bramble
    any of various rough thorny shrubs or vines
    They waded through the swamp together, Braeden sometimes reaching out a hand to help her over the trunk of a fallen tree, other times Serafina leading the way through a particularly nasty thicket of bramble.
  25. adequate
    having the requisite qualities or resources to meet a task
    She wasn’t sure she could give him an adequate answer, but she tried to explain it the best she could.
  26. whimsical
    determined by chance or impulse rather than by necessity
    Vases that once held whimsical arrangements of flowers had crashed down and shattered across the floor.
  27. pristine
    completely free from dirt or contamination
    The normally perfectly pristine brick floors were cracked in multiple places and scattered with hay, horse dung, and hurriedly discarded equipment.
  28. draft
    the act of moving a load by drawing or pulling
    Every last harness horse, sport horse, trail horse, draft horse, and pony had been taken.
  29. plaintive
    expressing sorrow
    But as she moved through the darkness, she heard a single plaintive, desperate meow.
  30. paddock
    a pen for horses
    There was a paddock there, with a single powerful black thoroughbred inside it.
    The horse neighed when it saw them.
  31. gait
    an animal's manner of moving
    Serafina felt the push of the movement against her body, and the undulation of the horse’s gait as it ran.
  32. sorrel
    of a light brownish color
    Then she spotted the figure of one more man, riding one of the estate’s large, sorrel-coated Belgian draft horses.
  33. stout
    fairly large
    He was a stout and heavy man, more used to stomping through the machine rooms of the basement in his thick boots than sitting in a saddle atop a horse in the sunlight, but there he was.
  34. assortment
    a collection containing a variety of kinds of things
    Essie had set up a formal English-style tea, complete with a white tablecloth, fine porcelain cups, white cloth napkins, silver spoons, and a pyramid of scones and tea cakes with clotted cream and an assortment of jams alongside.
  35. abject
    showing humiliation or submissiveness
    “Believe me, Essie,” Braeden said, holding up his hands in a gesture of abject surrender. “I know I’m not fooling anyone.”
  36. scorn
    look down on with disdain
    Slowly, as she and Braeden began to relax, she came to realize that they were actually enjoying a lovely and delightful afternoon—the so-called “peace and quiet” that she had once scorned.
  37. sole
    not divided or shared with others
    “I am the executor of your father’s estate, and you are its sole living beneficiary. It’s being held in a trust for you until you reach the age of majority.”
  38. beneficiary
    the recipient of funds or other advantages
    “I am the executor of your father’s estate, and you are its sole living beneficiary. It’s being held in a trust for you until you reach the age of majority.”
  39. executor
    a person appointed to carry out the terms of the will
    It’s my job as executor to make sure that you are safe and taken care of until that time.
  40. considerable
    large in number, amount, extent, or degree
    “If we move forward with this school idea of yours, it will require a considerable amount of work and commitment,” Mr. Vanderbilt said as he studied Braeden. “It’s obviously far more difficult to build an entirely new school than it is to go to an established school. Are you sure you want to do this?”
Created on Wed Apr 10 16:42:32 EDT 2024 (updated Sun Apr 14 17:41:01 EDT 2024)

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