diff --git a/internal/persistence/sql/relationtuples.go b/internal/persistence/sql/relationtuples.go
index f36103f57..9d82bee31 100644
--- a/internal/persistence/sql/relationtuples.go
+++ b/internal/persistence/sql/relationtuples.go
@@ -214,7 +214,7 @@ func (p *Persister) GetRelationTuples(ctx context.Context, query *relationtuple.
 	}
 
 	sqlQuery := p.queryWithNetwork(ctx).
-		Order("shard_id, nid").
+		Order("shard_id").
 		Where("shard_id > ?", pagination.LastID).
 		Limit(pagination.PerPage + 1)
 
diff --git a/internal/persistence/sql/traverser.go b/internal/persistence/sql/traverser.go
index 542e6f2ff..33af2402e 100644
--- a/internal/persistence/sql/traverser.go
+++ b/internal/persistence/sql/traverser.go
@@ -85,7 +85,7 @@ WHERE current.nid = ? AND
       current.object = ? AND
       current.relation = ? AND
       current.subject_id IS NULL
-ORDER BY current.nid, current.shard_id
+ORDER BY current.shard_id
 LIMIT ?
 `, targetSubjectSQL),
 			append(targetSubjectArgs, t.p.NetworkID(ctx), shardID, start.Namespace, start.Object, start.Relation, limit)...,