He's heard Claude use that tone before, of course. Occasionally with him, even. But it's something he associates so strongly with the times he's stood before the Roundtable and put foolish Lords in their place -put his father in his place- that it makes his chest tight and in that moment there is nothing more terrifying than the idea of Claude walking away from him again.

"Of losing you-" He shakes his head but he releases his hand. Of course, with the magic still in place, he could command him to stay but he wouldn't dream of it. "Of being the thing people say I am."

After all he'd refused for so long to believe the awful things people said about his father and it took years with the rest of the Deer's support for him to recognize the truth of those rumors. All rumors have a kernel of truth, isn't that the saying? "I don't want to be the reason your dreams fail. They're too important. You're too important. You need people to like you, to love you and follow you and-"

He's rambling now, scared and worried and surely Claude sees how this plays out?