He implies that he got what he wanted from the Absolute, which were his wings.
Speaking of, what's up with his wings? How did he get wings?
Anyway, I got the impression that he voluntarily joined the Absolute, but it's certainly a good point that he may be a victim as opposed to a traitor.
I was curious about the wings thing as well,
At first tought that he might be a oath of Vengence Paladin that got wings at a high enough level and that he was just a corrupted paladin like Minthara was and the shabyness of his wings was explained by his corruption or a Assimar ( And they tortured and damaged his wings).
At the time, I tought I saw a video that showed a paladin (oath of Vengence) with Wings in a Larian promo video. Now I can't seem to find it so I have doubts.
If he betrayed the Fist for wings, I think I would have asked for the nicest looking wing arround. I feels more like he was experimented on (since my innitial idea is probably wrong). Without a scroll or a diary stating he's unhappy and wants to defect. I feels to me more, He was catptured , given a parasite to be a spy, maybe via the parasite they saw he dreampt of having wings, gave to him his desire but twisted it .