An orbital-free quantum perturbation theory is proposed. It gives the response of the density matrix upon variation of the Hamiltonian by quadratically convergent recursions based on perturbed projections. The technique allows treatment of embedded quantum subsystems with a computational cost scaling linearly with the size of the perturbed region, O(N(pert.)), and as O(1) with the total system size. The method allows efficient high order perturbation expansions, as demonstrated with an example involving a 10th order expansion. Density matrix analogs of Wigner's 2n+1 rule are also presented.