diff --git a/lib/ext/Cite/index.js b/lib/ext/Cite/index.js
index 6c6e8726b..9fbedfe0a 100644
--- a/lib/ext/Cite/index.js
+++ b/lib/ext/Cite/index.js
@@ -41,7 +41,9 @@ function hasRef(node) {
 
 Ref.prototype.toDOM = function(state, content, args) {
 	// Drop nested refs entirely, unless we've explicitly allowed them
-	if (state.parseContext.extTag === 'ref' && !state.parseContext.allowNestedRef) {
+	if (state.parseContext.extTag === 'ref' &&
+		!(state.parseContext.extTagOpts && state.parseContext.extTagOpts.allowNestedRef)
+	) {
 		return null;
 	}
 
@@ -57,9 +59,11 @@ Ref.prototype.toDOM = function(state, content, args) {
 		// in-memory DOM which is simply a tree data structure, we can
 		// nest flow content in a <sup> tag.
 		wrapperTag: 'sup',
-		extTag: 'ref',
 		inTemplate: state.parseContext.inTemplate,
-		allowNestedRef: allowNestedRef,
+		extTag: 'ref',
+		extTagOpts: {
+			allowNestedRef: !!allowNestedRef,
+		},
 		noPWrapping: true,
 		noPre: true,
 	});