Aether's Obsession
I noticed it the way you notice your own heartbeat: suddenly and all at once, without being able to identify the moment it began.
Vaelor's shivering had been constant since I lay down beside him. Each tremor moved through him in waves, and I felt every one of them where we were pressed together, his chest against my back, his arm banded around my waist. The Aether-arrhythmia in his heartbeat had a sound, almost a subsonic vibration that I felt more in my bones than heard with my ears.
I kept my hand over his, where it rested against my ribs. I focused on his breathing. Tried to match it. Tried to be steady enough for both of us.