Can't even say how much of a surprise that was when I first read it.
I mean it was so on the face taht I though the author was just creating a red hearing but when h was really a villain it was so in character for this story that one can only be suprised about how it fit.
Holy burn through the plot at record speed Batman!
It would have been nice is they filled out the plot with the discussions between the scientist and the princess. That was a fun bit of world building in the novels.