Riddles at the Tiled Edge

Maya stood at the edge of the infinity pool, gin and tonic sweating onto her palm. Below, the lights of Marrakech bled into the darkness like a wound. This was supposed to be their anniversary trip—Marcus's idea, six months prepaid, non-refundable. But Marcus had chosen his consulting project over their marriage, choosing spreadsheets over the woman who'd stopped sleeping through the night three years ago.

A cat slunk from the shadows, patched-white and amber-eyed. It studied her with that unnerving feline indifference, as if her marriage collapsing was no more remarkable than a fallen leaf. Maya crouched, extending her hand. The cat approached, then turned away—a refusal that stung more than it should have.

"The sphinx," Marcus had called her once, half-drunk at a Christmas party. "Beautiful but impenetrable. Full of riddles I'll never solve."

She'd laughed then. Now, standing alone in the Moroccan twilight, his words felt less like endearment and more like surrender. He hadn't wanted to solve her riddles. He'd wanted her to stop having them.

The cat reappeared on the pool's raised edge, silhouetted against the city lights. Something dead in its mouth—maybe a lizard, maybe a mouse. It dropped the small body into the water, where it floated like a dark secret.

Maya took her phone from her pocket. The text from Marcus still waited: *Think we need to talk. When you get back.*

She typed: *Let's not wait.* Then deleted it.

The lapping water against the pool's edge sounded like something breathing. Maya set down her glass, stepped out of her sandals. The water was cold, shocking her skin, cleaner than the lukewarm bath of her marriage had become. She floated on her back, staring up at stars that knew nothing of her, asking nothing, offering only light.

The sphinx had posed riddles and devoured those who failed. But here's what Marcus had never understood: sometimes the answer isn't to solve. Sometimes the answer is to walk away, leaving the riddle standing in the desert, waiting for someone willing to live with the mystery.