diff --git a/zebra-network/src/peer_set/set.rs b/zebra-network/src/peer_set/set.rs
index a8df59e5b..fe9d50d71 100644
--- a/zebra-network/src/peer_set/set.rs
+++ b/zebra-network/src/peer_set/set.rs
@@ -82,10 +82,13 @@ where
     D: Discover<Key = SocketAddr>,
 {
     discover: D,
+    /// A preselected index for a ready service.
+    /// INVARIANT: If `next_idx` is `Some(i)`, `i` must be a valid index for `ready_services`.
+    /// This means that every change to `ready_services` must invalidate or correct `next_idx`.
+    next_idx: Option<usize>,
     ready_services: IndexMap<D::Key, D::Service>,
     cancel_handles: HashMap<D::Key, oneshot::Sender<()>>,
     unready_services: FuturesUnordered<UnreadyService<D::Key, D::Service, Request>>,
-    next_idx: Option<usize>,
     demand_signal: mpsc::Sender<()>,
     /// Channel for passing ownership of tokio JoinHandles from PeerSet's background tasks
     ///
@@ -117,10 +120,10 @@ where
     ) -> Self {
         Self {
             discover,
+            next_idx: None,
             ready_services: IndexMap::new(),
             cancel_handles: HashMap::new(),
             unready_services: FuturesUnordered::new(),
-            next_idx: None,
             demand_signal,
             guards: futures::stream::FuturesUnordered::new(),
             handle_rx,
@@ -149,20 +152,20 @@ where
     }
 
     fn remove(&mut self, key: &D::Key) {
-        // Remove key from either the set of ready services,
-        // or else from the set of unready services.
         if let Some((i, _, _)) = self.ready_services.swap_remove_full(key) {
             // swap_remove perturbs the position of the last element of
             // ready_services, so we may have invalidated self.next_idx, in
             // which case we need to fix it. Specifically, swap_remove swaps the
             // position of the removee and the last element, then drops the
             // removee from the end, so we compare the active and removed indices:
-            let len = self.ready_services.len();
+            //
+            // We just removed one element, so this was the index of the last element.
+            let last_idx = self.ready_services.len();
             self.next_idx = match self.next_idx {
-                None => None,                   // No active index
-                Some(j) if j == i => None,      // We removed j
-                Some(j) if j == len => Some(i), // We swapped i and j
-                Some(j) => Some(j),             // We swapped an unrelated service.
+                None => None,                        // No active index
+                Some(j) if j == i => None,           // We removed j
+                Some(j) if j == last_idx => Some(i), // We swapped i and j
+                Some(j) => Some(j),                  // We swapped an unrelated service.
             };
             // No Heisenservices: they must be ready or unready.
             assert!(!self.cancel_handles.contains_key(key));
@@ -240,7 +243,6 @@ where
             0 => None,
             1 => Some(0),
             len => {
-                // XXX avoid relying on rand complexity
                 let (a, b) = {
                     let idxs = rand::seq::index::sample(&mut rand::thread_rng(), len, 2);
                     (idxs.index(0), idxs.index(1))
@@ -299,8 +301,10 @@ where
                     .ready_services
                     .swap_remove_index(index)
                     .expect("found index must be valid");
-                tracing::debug!(?hash, ?key, "routing based on inventory");
+                // We changed ready_services, so next_idx is invalid
+                self.next_idx = None;
 
+                tracing::debug!(?hash, ?key, "routing based on inventory");
                 let fut = svc.call(req);
                 self.push_unready(key, svc);
                 fut.map_err(Into::into).boxed()
@@ -320,6 +324,7 @@ where
         // This is not needless: otherwise, we'd hold a &mut reference to self.ready_services,
         // blocking us from passing &mut self to push_unready.
         let ready_services = std::mem::take(&mut self.ready_services);
+        self.next_idx = None; // We changed ready_services, so next_idx is invalid
 
         let futs = FuturesUnordered::new();
         for (key, mut svc) in ready_services {