chapter Thirty : The Labyrinth riddle

Aria......

I stared at the parchment until the black ink seemed to blur and twist like it was mocking me. My pulse hammered in my ears, drowning out the shuffle of feet and the soft murmurs of the crowd watching us from the gallery above and below, everyone was looking excited while my chest was in knots.

The words were simple enough, and yet they clawed at me.

“I am taken from a mine, locked in a wooden case, never released, and yet almost every soul uses me. What am I?”

It was the first of three riddles, written in curling script across the parchment, each line more cryptic than the last.

My throat tightened. I wasn’t supposed to be here. Serena’s words rang in my head, sharp and venomous. She chooses toys. Giselle’s delicate smirk lingered in my memory, her spear glinting like a promise. Matilda had looked like a warrior born, her axe resting against her shoulder as if she’d been raised with it in her hand.

And me? I was sitting cross-legged on the floor with parchment in my lap, t