diff --git a/src/hb-ot-color-cpal-table.hh b/src/hb-ot-color-cpal-table.hh
index ce9f76e45..fa7d3207b 100644
--- a/src/hb-ot-color-cpal-table.hh
+++ b/src/hb-ot-color-cpal-table.hh
@@ -142,12 +142,9 @@ struct CPAL
 								       numColors);
     if (color_count)
     {
-      hb_array_t<const BGRAColor> segment_colors = palette_colors.sub_array (start_offset, *color_count);
-      /* Always return numColors colors per palette even if it has out-of-bounds start index. */
-      unsigned int count = hb_min ((unsigned) hb_max ((int) (numColors - start_offset), 0), *color_count);
-      *color_count = count;
-      for (unsigned int i = 0; i < count; i++)
-	colors[i] = segment_colors[i]; /* Bound-checked read. */
+      + palette_colors.sub_array (start_offset, color_count)
+      | hb_sink (hb_array (colors, *color_count))
+      ;
     }
     return numColors;
   }