diff --git a/keyserver/internal/internal.go b/keyserver/internal/internal.go
index e3ede9ac..f6f6cbab 100644
--- a/keyserver/internal/internal.go
+++ b/keyserver/internal/internal.go
@@ -227,8 +227,10 @@ func (a *KeyInternalAPI) QueryKeys(ctx context.Context, req *api.QueryKeysReques
 	res.Failures = make(map[string]interface{})
 
 	// get cross-signing keys from the database
+	crossSigningSatisfiedLocally := true
 	if err := a.crossSigningKeys(ctx, req, res); err != nil {
 		util.GetLogger(ctx).WithError(err).Error("Failed to retrieve cross-signing keys from database")
+		crossSigningSatisfiedLocally = false
 	}
 
 	// make a map from domain to device keys
@@ -287,7 +289,7 @@ func (a *KeyInternalAPI) QueryKeys(ctx context.Context, req *api.QueryKeysReques
 
 	// attempt to satisfy key queries from the local database first as we should get device updates pushed to us
 	domainToDeviceKeys = a.remoteKeysFromDatabase(ctx, res, domainToDeviceKeys)
-	if len(domainToDeviceKeys) == 0 {
+	if len(domainToDeviceKeys) == 0 && crossSigningSatisfiedLocally {
 		return // nothing to query
 	}