Excerpt from Seek the Traitor's Son by Veronica Roth, plus links to reviews, author biography & more

The oldest augur steps onto the mirror. Her skin is freckled across her nose. There are creases around her mouth, as if she's spent a lifetime keeping words in. The end of her robe trails on the glass. She stops in front of Elegy and Rava.

"The two of you share a two-pronged lineage, of which each of you is the last living descendant," she says. "This prophecy trickles down that bloodline—all the way down to Ileth Vidar, and her many-generations-removed cousin: Keen Ahn."

Elegy thinks of her father, Keen Ahn, slouched over his morning coffee, his hair sticking straight up as he checks her math homework. The memory aches. The thought of him being related to Rava Vidar even distantly is laughable. But the augur doesn't appear to be joking.

"What does this prophecy say?" Rava asks.

The augur smiles.

"That is where our solution to this problem comes in," she says. "This prophecy concerns the future of your respective people. It assures victory for one of you over the other—and through you, victory for your people over the other's."

Elegy feels a laugh bubbling up inside her, but it's not a mirthful one. It's all panic, all confusion. Victory for one of you over the other. She can't look at Rava Vidar, the titan, the warrior, the legend. Elegy and her mismatched socks are no match for her. Victory for your people over the other's. Victory for the Cedrae over the Talusar isn't something she's ever imagined. She thought they were fighting to survive, fighting to maintain the little corners of this planet that they occupy—not fighting to win.

The augur goes on: "But this prophecy is … a storm. Chaos and confusion. Tumult and rupture. And we have devised a way to make it settle." She looks back at the other augurs, her body angling away from Elegy so she can't see the woman's face. "Half of us believe it speaks of one of you, and half of us believe it speaks of the other. So we will divide and reveal it to you separately. The questions you ask, and the guidance you receive, will force the prophecy in one direction or the other. But you will not know which—not until it's too late to change anything. By the time you leave this place in peace, the wheels of fate will already be in motion. One of you will triumph, and the other will not. The Cedrae will be victorious … or the Talusar."

The augur looks from Rava to Elegy.

"We will proceed immediately. Yes?"

"Yes," Rava says.

And though all Elegy wants to do is refuse, run out the double doors to the salt flat, and leave this place far behind her, she knows that's not an option.

"Yes," she answers.

Excerpted from Seek the Traitor's Son by Veronica Roth. Copyright © 2026 by Veronica Roth. Excerpted by permission of Tor Books. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.