Stolen from the Vault by the Alien Thief

Sona Bhatt is a museum conservator. She does not steal things. Then a man in a grey skinsuit lifts her case off its mount at two in the morning, and instead of screaming she asks him why the artefact is humming. Ryx is Vethri, and he needs that object to wake a derelict ark ship that holds the last archive of his people's language. Sona has the vault key, the provenance file, and a director selling to a private buyer on Friday. He offers her a cut. She offers him a better heist. One auction house. One hotel room with one bed. One very long night on a dead ship at the edge of the solar system, where Ryx finds his history and Sona finds out what she'd risk her job for. A steamy alien romance about competence, chemistry, and the world's politest burglary.