diff --git a/quartz/src/commonMain/kotlin/com/vitorpamplona/quartz/nip01Core/relay/server/NostrServer.kt b/quartz/src/commonMain/kotlin/com/vitorpamplona/quartz/nip01Core/relay/server/NostrServer.kt
index 81326a5bbf..9ec35db402 100644
--- a/quartz/src/commonMain/kotlin/com/vitorpamplona/quartz/nip01Core/relay/server/NostrServer.kt
+++ b/quartz/src/commonMain/kotlin/com/vitorpamplona/quartz/nip01Core/relay/server/NostrServer.kt
@@ -65,7 +65,7 @@ class NostrServer(
     private val store: IEventStore,
     policyBuilder: () -> IRelayPolicy = { VerifyPolicy },
     parentContext: CoroutineContext = SupervisorJob(),
-    parallelVerify: Boolean = false,
+    private val parallelVerify: Boolean = false,
     negentropySettings: NegentropySettings = NegentropySettings.Default,
     listener: RelayServerListener = RelayServerListener.None,
     limits: RelayLimits? = null,
@@ -105,19 +105,32 @@ class NostrServer(
      * connection — e.g. a mirror worker streaming a trusted upstream
      * relay, or an import job. Routes through the same group-commit
      * [IngestQueue] and live fanout as a client EVENT publish, but skips
-     * the per-connection policy chain (there is no connection).
+     * the **entire** per-connection policy chain (there is no
+     * connection): no [VerifyPolicy], no allow/deny lists, no size
+     * limits. Callers own that screening — scope what may enter this
+     * path (e.g. geode's per-upstream mirror filters) accordingly.
      *
-     * [skipVerify] exempts the event from the parallel signature-verify
-     * hook — the relay-to-relay trust model: pass `true` only for events
-     * from an explicitly configured upstream that already verified them
-     * (Schnorr verify profiles at ~8% of busy ingest CPU). The default
-     * `false` keeps verify-everything semantics.
+     * [skipVerify] exempts the event from signature verification — the
+     * relay-to-relay trust model: pass `true` only for events from an
+     * explicitly configured upstream that already verified them (Schnorr
+     * verify profiles at ~8% of busy ingest CPU). The default `false`
+     * keeps verify-everything semantics regardless of configuration:
+     * when the [IngestQueue] hook is on ([parallelVerify]) it verifies
+     * there, otherwise this method verifies inline — without this, a
+     * server whose verification lives in the (bypassed) policy chain
+     * would silently ingest forgeries.
      */
     suspend fun ingest(
         event: Event,
         skipVerify: Boolean = false,
         onComplete: (IEventStore.InsertOutcome) -> Unit,
-    ) = liveStore.submit(event, skipVerify, onComplete)
+    ) {
+        if (!skipVerify && !parallelVerify && !event.verify()) {
+            onComplete(IEventStore.InsertOutcome.Rejected("invalid: bad signature or id"))
+            return
+        }
+        liveStore.submit(event, skipVerify, onComplete)
+    }
 
     init {
         // Deferred-FTS catch-up worker: tokenizes in the gaps between
diff --git a/quartz/src/commonTest/kotlin/com/vitorpamplona/quartz/nip01Core/relay/server/NostrServerIngestTest.kt b/quartz/src/commonTest/kotlin/com/vitorpamplona/quartz/nip01Core/relay/server/NostrServerIngestTest.kt
index 085edb3098..f1a881432e 100644
--- a/quartz/src/commonTest/kotlin/com/vitorpamplona/quartz/nip01Core/relay/server/NostrServerIngestTest.kt
+++ b/quartz/src/commonTest/kotlin/com/vitorpamplona/quartz/nip01Core/relay/server/NostrServerIngestTest.kt
@@ -59,12 +59,15 @@ class NostrServerIngestTest {
             sig = "f".repeat(128),
         )
 
-    private fun createServer(dispatcher: CoroutineDispatcher): NostrServer =
+    private fun createServer(
+        dispatcher: CoroutineDispatcher,
+        parallelVerify: Boolean = true,
+    ): NostrServer =
         NostrServer(
             store = EventStore(null),
             policyBuilder = { EmptyPolicy },
             parentContext = dispatcher,
-            parallelVerify = true,
+            parallelVerify = parallelVerify,
         )
 
     private suspend fun NostrServer.ingestOutcome(
@@ -118,6 +121,32 @@ class NostrServerIngestTest {
             server.close()
         }
 
+    @Test
+    fun forgedEventIsRejectedEvenWithoutTheQueueVerifyHook() =
+        runTest {
+            // With parallelVerify = false the IngestQueue has no verify
+            // hook AND ingest() bypasses the policy chain where
+            // VerifyPolicy would live — the inline fallback is the only
+            // thing standing between an untrusted mirror and forgeries.
+            val server = createServer(UnconfinedTestDispatcher(testScheduler), parallelVerify = false)
+
+            val outcome = server.ingestOutcome(forgedEvent(), skipVerify = false)
+            assertTrue(outcome is IEventStore.InsertOutcome.Rejected)
+            assertTrue(outcome.reason.contains("signature"))
+
+            // The trust switch and valid events still work on this config.
+            assertEquals(
+                IEventStore.InsertOutcome.Accepted,
+                server.ingestOutcome(forgedEvent(2), skipVerify = true),
+            )
+            assertEquals(
+                IEventStore.InsertOutcome.Accepted,
+                server.ingestOutcome(signedEvent(), skipVerify = false),
+            )
+
+            server.close()
+        }
+
     @Test
     fun trustIsPerSubmissionNotPerQueue() =
         runTest {