diff --git a/source/blender/blenkernel/BKE_mesh.hh b/source/blender/blenkernel/BKE_mesh.hh
index 79e5f1047c8..648ef023132 100644
--- a/source/blender/blenkernel/BKE_mesh.hh
+++ b/source/blender/blenkernel/BKE_mesh.hh
@@ -269,17 +269,14 @@ inline int face_triangles_num(const int face_size)
 
 /**
  * Return the index of the edge's vertex that is not the \a vert.
- * If neither edge vertex is equal to \a v, returns -1.
  */
-inline int edge_other_vert(const int2 &edge, const int vert)
+inline int edge_other_vert(const int2 edge, const int vert)
 {
-  if (edge[0] == vert) {
-    return edge[1];
-  }
-  if (edge[1] == vert) {
-    return edge[0];
-  }
-  return -1;
+  BLI_assert(ELEM(vert, edge[0], edge[1]));
+  BLI_assert(edge[0] >= 0);
+  BLI_assert(edge[1] >= 0);
+  /* Order is important to avoid overflow. */
+  return (edge[0] - vert) + edge[1];
 }
 
 /** \} */
diff --git a/source/blender/nodes/geometry/nodes/node_geo_input_shortest_edge_paths.cc b/source/blender/nodes/geometry/nodes/node_geo_input_shortest_edge_paths.cc
index 1b45701a157..194acc7eebb 100644
--- a/source/blender/nodes/geometry/nodes/node_geo_input_shortest_edge_paths.cc
+++ b/source/blender/nodes/geometry/nodes/node_geo_input_shortest_edge_paths.cc
@@ -54,7 +54,7 @@ static void shortest_paths(const Mesh &mesh,
     visited[vert_i] = true;
     for (const int edge_i : vert_to_edge[vert_i]) {
       const int2 &edge = edges[edge_i];
-      const int neighbor_vert_i = edge[0] + edge[1] - vert_i;
+      const int neighbor_vert_i = bke::mesh::edge_other_vert(edge, vert_i);
       if (visited[neighbor_vert_i]) {
         continue;
       }