"So, what? You're Inculta's personal slave? His mistress?" Arcade looked at Rhia with despise in his eyes. He had been placed in one of the medical tents in the Old Mormon Fort, supervising slaves such as Siri, who took care of the injured.

"Yes, more or less", Rhia looked up at her now former friend, if he could ever have been counted as her friend. She had met him while undercover at the Followers of the Apocalypse's medical station in Freeside, they had soon started talking and found each other pleasant enough, and before Rhia knew it, they were friends. She was only supposed to gather information, but these sort of things happened. It was inevitable, really. Arcade was a levelheaded individual, very educated and philosophical, which Rhia appreciated and took solace in, as she missed Vulpes when she worked alone in New Vegas. Arcade and Rhia had been drawn to each other through their ever developing discussions and Rhia found it somewhat strange that eventually, he didn't suspect anything about her loyalties. But she supposed it was a sign of her professionalism.

"But he referred to you as marita? You're married to him, aren't you?" Arcade frowned and fidgeted in annoyance with a syringe. "You were forced, weren't you?"

"Arcade…", Rhia sighed. Arcade looked up at her again and put the syringe down. "I was taken, yes, captured. But I was treated well from the beginning, well sure, there were some problems with the difference in culture and expectations – but soon I found myself very much at home with Vulpes. He didn't force me into a marriage with him, he asked and I answered"

"And you knew about them, what they do?" Arcade had to push down a sob as he looked into Rhia's large, black eyes. They weren't blank and empty as slaves eyes so often were, they were full of life, even though right now, they were gleaming with what he could only interpret as some form of pity.

"Vulpes caught me just before Nipton, I was there", Rhia looked into Arcades eyes, showing as little emotion as she could. It wouldn't do any good if she accidentally smiled. "I told him that he was disgusting, but I soon realized the necessity of their actions against the degenerates of Nipton. They were prepared to sell their loved ones into slavery to save their own skin. They were hypocrites"

"And camp Searchlight? That was your husband's doing as well, were they hypocrites as well?" Arcade spat in anger and pierced Rhia with his stare.

"That was warfare", Rhia retorted casually and shrugged her shoulders. "You know very well how it works. Had the NCR had the chance, they would have done the same to us"

"It was mass murder"

"It was warfare", Rhia smiled and Arcade flinched at the sight of her curved lips.

"Rhia, I don't get it. You're a smart girl, independent and with an incredible mind of your own, how can you even begin to accept and agree to the actions of these people? Are you completely brain-washed?"

"To you, perhaps I am", Rhia leaned back against the table behind her and took a deep breath. "The Legion lives according to a culture so vastly different from the one of New Vegas and the Wasteland at large and of course it has its flaws, every society does. But you have to look beyond the immediate actions and to the greater good"

"It sounds like fascism to me", muttered Arcade and cast accusing glances at Rhia.

"Well, that's because it is fascism, Arcade", Rhia rolled her eyes. "The beginning stages of Caesar's ideology has to be totalitarian, otherwise there would be no difference, there wouldn't be any changes in the way people view society"

"So the slaves, the violence and the misogyny are just a phase? That's what you're saying?"

"The violence, yes. The slaves and misogyny are a part of the ideology, based upon the natural order of things"

"Are you kidding me? This is so absurd I don't even know what to say", Arcade turned around and rubbed his temples.

"I find it interesting that someone with such close ties to the organization who blew the world up, act so judgmental when it comes to harsh ideologies", Rhia mused with just a pinch of amusement.

"Excuse me?" Arcade turned around again, eyes wide.

"The Enclave is no different from the Legion, perhaps even worse, since they've had several hundred years to do right by their mistakes. And have they?" Rhia snorted.

"How do you even know about that?"

"Please, Arcade, I'm married to the head of the Frumentarii", Rhia rolled her eyes. "I've been collecting information for the Legion for almost a year, I'm a spy. Remember?"

Arcade groaned before sighing loud out of irritation. "You've been completely brain-washed. Haven't you heard of the Stockholm syndrome?"

"The what now?" Rhia arched a brow and crossed her arms over her chest with a smile on her lips. "Why, Arcade, are you so set on telling me that I can't have made my own decision about staying with the Legion?"

"Because no one does, Rhia. What, Vulpes would just let you leave if you wanted to?"

"No, of course not. But I don't want to. I've had plenty opportunity to run, to hide and to leave him, but I haven't. I haven't even thought about it, not since I met him the first time"

"Aw, how sweet – true romance", Arcade rolled his eyes sarcastically.

"Mocking does not become you, you know", Rhia moved away from the table. "Now, be a good boy and keep working and I'm sure you'll soon feel at home with us"

Arcade snorted with narrowed eyes and watched as Rhia left the medical tent.

The last of the most fierce and defiant men belonging to the NCR had been executed in various ways as the Legion took complete control of the Strip, they quickly assembled an arena for methods of execution, but also the favored gladiator-games that entertained the troops. Crucifixion was still the most common way to die as an enemy of Caesar, but some Legionaries had been able to catch some deathclaws and it was nothing short of good fun for the red soldiers to watch NCR-soldiers die torn up and bloodied trying to fistfight against the mutated monsters.

The few citizen's of New Vegas had capitulated quickly and were therefore shown mercy and could continue their lives, now as citizen's of what was to be Caesar's new Capital. The rebuilding of New Vegas had started immediately and both male and female slaves, former NCR-soldiers and others were forced into manual labor, blowing up redundant buildings and constructing new ones. Slaves were brought in from as far as Flagstaff and from other tribal settlements conquered by the Legion and Caesar made his own pristine home in the Lucky 38, only after the entire casino were rid of anything reminding of its former degenerate history. Vulpes and Rhia made their home on the 13th floor of the Tops casino, together with the other residing Frumentarii in New Vegas, it became the Frumentarii headquarters and while Rhia wasn't a soldier officially in the Legion, as she was a woman, she was still married to Vulpes and therefore lived where he lived.

The streets of New Vegas and Freeside was littered with red tents and barracks were being built to accommodate the still remaining large army and soon other citizens from the lands held by the Legion was starting to emigrate to New Vegas to build up the city from the ground. It was a beautiful sight, Rhia thought, as she strolled down the Strip, quietly watching the development. She couldn't help but to long for Flagstaff, even though New Vegas was being transformed into something less filthy. But she knew that there were to be a long time before she would be able to go back there, if ever. Vulpes seemed content with staying in New Vegas and as usual his sole focus was on his own work, there was still plenty that needed to be done, securing the borders and assess the neighboring settlements that weren't a part of Legion-lands.

Rhia however, was no longer expected to work within the Frumentarii unless until they yet again found themselves in a state of war. There would be months, years until that happened. Caesar's Legion needed to rebuild the losses from the war with the NCR and strengthen their complete and total hold over the Mojave. What Rhia was supposed to do now, was the usual duties of a wife. She was supposed to clean, laundry and cook, entertain and birth sons to Vulpes. She had been content with that, before Vulpes started using her in their war. Now, she had gotten a taste for being useful in more ways than just being a breeding machine that provided the man she belonged to with clean and whole clothes and warm food once a day.

A few weeks after they had settled in properly in New Vegas, two praetorian guards came to Rhia and Vulpes' suite at the Frumentarii head quarters and collected her, escorted her out of the Strip and through Freeside. When they were close to what was now the medical center, the Old Mormon Fort, the former settlement of the Followers of the Apocalypse, she heard Arcade's raised voice, it was arguing and sounded extremely upset. When Rhia arrived in the medical center behind the large stonewalls she saw Arcade gesticulating fiercely towards Vulpes and a group of what looked like recruits and Lucius who stood to the side, slightly behind Vulpes. Arcade was red with anger, but Vulpes showed no emotion as he stood with arms crossed over his chest listening to Arcades raging accompanied with wild gesticulation.

Rhia was brought to Lucius who took her in a hard grip and led her forward to Vulpes who ignored her presence. From what Rhia could understand from the little she had been able to hear from their argument, it was connected to something with Caesar. Suddenly, Vulpes backhanded Rhia so hard she fell back against Lucius chest and Lucius hands grabbed her upper arms hard and help her up on her feet.

"What the fuck are you doing!? What kind of monster are you?" Arcade screamed as Rhia could feel the warmth of her blood running down from her nose over her lips. Vulpes said nothing and as Arcade continued to scream, Vulpes struck Rhia again, and again, and again. Rhia said nothing, but simply tried to close the pain and humiliation out. As if it wasn't bad enough to be beaten in public by her husband, it was worse in front of Arcade. She had nothing to prove to the Legion, but Arcade never missed a chance to criticize her about her loyalty to Caesar and her husband.

"Okay, okay!" Arcade held his hands up and backed off slightly, Vulpes had used his good nature against him. Arcade may despise Rhia after her betrayal, but he could never stand to stand back and watch torture, no matter how much he hated the person being put through it. Vulpes knew this, as did Rhia. "Please, stop! You're going to kill her!"

Vulpes smiled slyly and grabbed Rhia by her long hair from the grips of Lucius and dragged her close to Arcade, chocking her with a firm grip around her neck. "You should know by now, you profligate sodomite, that the welfare of the Legion goes beyond any of my own personal comforts. Should Caesar die due to an accident during the operation, my wife here as well as that drunken redheaded whore, will face a very slow and painful death at the hands of yourself and I will make sure you live for as long as possible, suffering with the knowledge that you killed the only persons left in this shithole of a wasteland that actually cared about you"

Vulpes then leaned in and kissed Rhia's bloodied forehead gently before licking the blood of his lips. "Do we understand each other, Arcade Gannon?" said Vulpes while Rhia was starting to pant with gurgling sounds for air.

"Yes! Yes! Just, let go of her!" Arcade shouted and covered his face with his hands.

Vulpes threw Rhia backwards into the arms of a recruit and before he turned and left, he said in his vibrating but emotionless voice, "Make sure my wife's wounds are taken care of and test her for pregnancy, she hasn't bled in months. Salve, marita, medicus"

As Arcade saw to her beaten up face, he said nothing but remained silent. She could feel he wanted to scold her, to tell her that he had told her so and that this was more or less her own fault. But he didn't, and Rhia couldn't even see if there was pity in his eyes as he cared for her, her eyes were too swollen from Vulpes fists. From what she could estimate from the aching and throbbing pain, her nose was broken and her lip split in at least one place. Her right temple burned with intensity and her throat felt sore and she could hardly get a word out.

"Don't-", she heard Arcade said as she could feel a cold sweaty hand on her shoulder as she had tried to move her lips into forming a word, "Rest your voice, for now"

"He…", Rhia rasped, "He didn't hit my belly…Did he?"

"How could you even-" Arcade sighed and she felt a cold wind brush her as he moved away from her. "You're not with child, Rhia. At least I don't believe you are, but I can't make a perfectly accurate test until it more or less shows"

"Okay", answered Rhia in a faint voice, "Thank you, Arcade"

"Now rest, I'll give you something soothing"

The next morning Rhia woke up in the suit she and Vulpes shared, but she was alone and it seemed as if Vulpes had not slept in their bed during the night. Her vision was still very blurry, but the swollenness of her eyes had gone down somewhat during the night and as she got to her feet and made her way into the bathroom and the mirror, she could make out the results of yesterdays manhandling. Her long wavy hair with curls in the tops was tousled and still had clogged blood in it, her face was almost unrecognizable. She had never seen herself this beaten up before, and she had been shot in the head before. It was a disturbing thing to be confronted with. She started from the meek voice of a female standing in the doorway asking if Rhia wanted her to draw up a bath for her. Rhia nodded and the girl quickly moved behind her and filled the tub with hot water. Rhia kept looking over her face and she could feel tears burning up behind her eyes, but she tried to press them back.

Vulpes had done this as a mean to blackmail Arcade into helping the Legion, as from what it had sounded like when they argued yesterday. His duty was to the Legion as well as her own, this was a necessary sacrifice she had to make, she had to put her trust to Vulpes, that he knew what he was doing. He had beaten her before, many times and this wasn't anything new – but he had never beaten her this severely.

The slave helped her wash her hair and scrub her sore body. Vulpes had only punched her face, possibly too afraid to terminate a pregnancy if he mangled her body as well. But her body still ached from the pain from her face and the sheer exhaustion.

Rhia heard feet approach and the slave stood up suddenly, looking at her own feet.

"Leave", Vulpes voice sounded and the slave quickly complied and was gone from the suit within seconds. He looked down on her naked body in the bath for a short moment, remaining silent.

"Vir meus", Rhia said without looking up at him. Vulpes sat down on the floor beside the bath.

"Caesar has a brain tumor, Arcade is the only one we have that can preform a surgery that would save him. I needed leverage", said Vulpes and stared emotionlessly in front of him. "I apologize, try to look on it as doing your duty to your Lord"

"You could have told me", Rhia spat silently, still not looking at Vulpes.

"I could not"

"And why the fuck not?" Rhia frowned as best she could in her swollen state.

"Language, marita", Vulpes sighed in a tired way.

"Fuck you"

Vulpes grabbed her chin and forced her to look at him, "I don't care how ugly my beatings makes you. Believe me, Domitia, I will not hesitate to strike you until you've got no flesh left in that pretty face of yours". Rhia hissed and jerked her sore face away from his grip. "Arcade would have noticed if you knew. I needed him to take the situation seriously"

Rhia didn't answer and soon Vulpes rose to his full height and stroked her damp hair, looking down at her with a gentleness seldom visible in his cold sharp eyes. "I love you, amica mea. But my duty comes before everything else, you'll just have to live with that", if I live long enough, Rhia thought to herself.

Then he left again and soon after the slave returned and continued helping Rhia with her toiletries.

Rhia tucked herself down into the bed again after her bath, sipping on a Sunset Sarsaparilla and reading an old-world fashion magazine that had been found in the Ultra-Luxe when the Legion had cleared it out. She enjoyed the cool breeze of the air-condition and soon she dozed off into a comfortable sleep.