Free Ripper (The Morphid Chronicles Book 2) by Ingrid Seymour Page B

feeling adrift, a lost bloodhound without its sense of smell to guide him home.
    “Are you all right?” Perry asked, eyebrows pinched together in concern. For once, he wasn’t being an obnoxious ass. Ashby was grateful for it. He didn’t have the energy to deal with that.
    “I’m fine.”
    “Strengthening potion working?”
    “It’s helping.”
    After talking to his mother, he’d immediately summoned Perry to his room. The young Sorcerer had come quickly, bursting through the door without knocking.
    “You’re awake,” he’d exclaimed, panting for breath. “God, I thought you’d never . . .”
    He surprised Ashby by walking up to him and trapping him in a fierce embrace. “I’m so glad to see you,” he said, his voice hoarse with emotion.
    Ashby patted his back awkwardly, thinking the display unnecessary. To him it seemed like they’d been together just yesterday, sneaking out of the castle to find Sam and avoid detection from Danata. His friend’s rare show of affection, however, indicated quite the opposite and reminded him that much had transpired during the time he’d been unconscious.
    “Fates! You need a few good meals. A strengthening potion, perhaps?”
    “What happened, Perry?” Ashby had asked, pulling away. “Tell me, what happened? I woke up and everything was . . . gone. My mother has lied to me. I’m sure of it. Tell me, where is Sam? Why did she leave me?”
    Perry shook his head and stepped away, averting his eyes. “I couldn’t tell you, even if I wanted to. I wasn’t there, remember? You sent me away to remove the memory spells I’d cast on Sam’s family and friends. When I got back, Greg and Sam were running away. They told me . . . they told me . . .” He shook his head and rubbed his forehead.
    “They told you what?”
    “I can’t remember. It’s all vague and blurry in my mind, like—”
    “Like a memory spell,” Ashby finished for him.
    It was a good thing protection spells had been placed on Ashby at birth, else Danata would have probably ordered Veridan to obliterate Sam from his mind, as well.
    “Yeah. Veridan must have wiped it all away. That bastard.” Perry’s eyes burned with fury. “He must have used something powerful to be able to get through the wards Portos placed on me. All I know is what they told me. That you were in a coma, that Sam refused to help you and left with Greg, that Portos helped them leave and now he’s gone, too. I don’t know.”
    “Did you try to—?”
    “I know what you’re going to ask. No, I didn’t try to get in contact with Sam. The Regent forbade it, said she’d consider it treason. I’ve been close to disobeying several times. And I probably would have. Eventually.”
    “What about Portos and Uncle Bernard? How is their absence being explained?”
    “It isn’t. There are rumors. Some people say Greg killed them, others that Sam healed your uncle and he left in search of his wife and baby daughter. They say his vinculum was broken and Sam fixed it.” Perry let out a derisive laugh. “Who believes that rubbish?”
    “I do,” Ashby said.
    For the next hour, Ashby had related to Perry what the Regent had done to him. He explained she was a Ripper, a vile monster who hadn’t thought twice before severing his connection to Sam. He told him about the aimlessness and emptiness inside of him, the proof of the existence of vinculums, no matter if the concept was only a fairy tale to most Morphids, something to believe in, the way humans believe in souls and the holy spirit.
    None of that mattered, because it was true. All of it. And if that was possible, then anything was. Especially the likelihood that his mother was lying and Sam was out there, waiting for him to set everything right. Then, he told him about Roanna and Bernard, and how Danata had stolen the Regency from her sister. Hardest of all was explaining Sam’s caste, and how she had apparently healed Bernard, but not him.
    When he was done, convincing Perry