diff --git a/hive-forge/src/verbs/dependency.rs b/hive-forge/src/verbs/dependency.rs
index 6fb4a349..64a9d943 100644
--- a/hive-forge/src/verbs/dependency.rs
+++ b/hive-forge/src/verbs/dependency.rs
@@ -113,7 +113,26 @@ fn apply_and_verify(
     if call_errors.is_empty() {
         return Ok(());
     }
-    let after = dependency_summaries(client, owner, name, number)?;
+    let after = match dependency_summaries(client, owner, name, number) {
+        Ok(deps) => deps,
+        Err(read_err) => {
+            // The read-back itself failed, so none of the per-dep errors
+            // above could be re-classified — surface all of them rather
+            // than dropping them behind the read-back's own error.
+            let originals: Vec<String> = call_errors
+                .iter()
+                .map(|(dep, e)| format!("#{dep}: {e:#}"))
+                .collect();
+            let verb = if adding { "add" } else { "remove" };
+            bail!(
+                "hive-forge dependency {verb}: {} call(s) reported an error, and the \
+                 read-back to check whether they actually landed also failed ({read_err:#}). \
+                 Original error(s):\n{}",
+                call_errors.len(),
+                originals.join("\n")
+            );
+        }
+    };
     let present: HashSet<i64> = after
         .iter()
         .filter_map(|d| d.get("number").and_then(Value::as_i64))