The Queen Imperial

Chapter 62

"Slow down sir, you might fall."

Jonathan drew a deep breath, a huge smile spreading on his rosy cheeks. He loved it, the smell of fresh roses as he ran through the garden, the chirping sounds of birds coming from the tall trees, the rush of air through his skin as he finally made a stop in front of the tall wooden bench.

Everytime he got the afternoon off from his many lessons after school, he loved to play around the compound, just like that. He loved picking fresh flowers for Laura or another bird he thought was beautiful for Asher. He was too excited to even see how the maid and his nanny that had chased after him down the extremely long lawn, were busy panting for air and trying to catch their breaths. The smile on his face got even bigger the moment he noticed the willow tit on the arm of one of the benches.

He got out his slingshot and bent over hurriedly to reach for a stone.

"Sir Johnathan," the maid started.

"Young sir," his nanny continued. "You know how your mother feels about you throwing stones around the compound, you might hurt yourself."

Jonathan was barely listening. He was too busy attending to his desire to catch the bird in front of him to care about what it was they were talking about. He pulled the strap of his slingshot back, keeping one eye closed so he could have a perfect aim.

"Almost," he whispered to himself.

"Sir Jonathan!" He let go of the strap and the stone hit the back of the bench. His aim was never good to start with but he knew if he practiced hard, he could get there someday. He scoffed in frustration and turned to the older lady behind him.

"What?" He asked her stomping his feet. She exhaled. "I almost had it."

"It's a good thing you didn't." She told him. "We should head back inside. You have piano lessons in twenty minutes-"

Jonathan took off again without warning. He had to catch it, he had to catch a random bird in the least. He already got flowers for Laura, he needed to get something for Asher too. The maid went after him first while the older lady bent over to feel her legs. She was running out of breath and her legs were too old to run at their pace.

Jonathan hurried as fast as he could, chasing after the birds until he watched them settle on the tower fountain.

"Woah." He came to an abrupt stop a few feet away. There were a lot of them. He turned quickly in search of a stone. He needed to find one quickly, he wasn't going to let them get away this time. The maid was only just catching up with him and his Nanny was far behind them.

"Sir Jonathan," he was breathing heavily. How did he have such tiny legs and was yet a fast runner?

"Quiet please." He begged her in a whisper. "Or you'd chase them away again." For some reason, she found herself shutting up immediately he asked her to. Jonathan hurriedly picked his first stone and placed it into his slingshot. He turned to the fountain quickly and tried to aim for one of the birds with an eye closed and his little tongue stuck out slightly beside his lips. He let go of the strap but not early enough to catch the birds as they flew away from the fountain.

"Wait..."  he turned after them immediately. "Don't go please." He bent over and picked the first stone he saw. He started to run after them as fast as he could.

"Young sir," the maid went after him immediately. "Young sir, slow down please." It was so hard keeping up when he was running like his life depended on it. "Sir Jonathan,"