Index: cortav.lua
==================================================================
--- cortav.lua
+++ cortav.lua
@@ -978,10 +978,13 @@
 	if next(d) == nil then
 		c:fail 'subtitle in an unlabeled section is meaningless'
 	end
 
 	local last = d[#d]
+	-- make the syntax a bit friendlier in edge cases
+	if last.kind == 'reference' then last = last.rsrc end
+
 	local me = {
 		kind = 'subtitle';
 		spans = ct.parse_span(l:sub(3):gsub("^%s+",""), c);
 	}