diff --git a/src/_imagingft.c b/src/_imagingft.c
index 62dab73e5..ca8e556f0 100644
--- a/src/_imagingft.c
+++ b/src/_imagingft.c
@@ -425,6 +425,7 @@ text_layout_fallback(
             "setting text direction, language or font features is not supported "
             "without libraqm"
         );
+        return 0;
     }
 
     if (PyUnicode_Check(string)) {