diff --git a/Sources/Kafka/KafkaMetadata.swift b/Sources/Kafka/KafkaMetadata.swift
index 714315b..4a7172d 100644
--- a/Sources/Kafka/KafkaMetadata.swift
+++ b/Sources/Kafka/KafkaMetadata.swift
@@ -3,8 +3,10 @@ import Crdkafka
 public struct KafkaMetadata: Sendable {
     public let topics: [KafkaTopicMetadata]
 
-    init(metadata: UnsafePointer<rd_kafka_metadata>) {
-        self.topics = (0..<Int(metadata.pointee.topic_cnt)).map { KafkaTopicMetadata(topic: metadata.pointee.topics[$0]) }
+    init(metadata: UnsafePointer<rd_kafka_metadata> /* unowned */) {
+        self.topics = (0..<Int(metadata.pointee.topic_cnt)).map {
+            KafkaTopicMetadata(topic: metadata.pointee.topics[$0])
+        }
     }
 }
 
diff --git a/Sources/Kafka/RDKafka/RDKafkaClient.swift b/Sources/Kafka/RDKafka/RDKafkaClient.swift
index aaa9c81..b1e371b 100644
--- a/Sources/Kafka/RDKafka/RDKafkaClient.swift
+++ b/Sources/Kafka/RDKafka/RDKafkaClient.swift
@@ -798,6 +798,9 @@ public final class RDKafkaClient: Sendable {
                     continuation.resume(throwing: KafkaError.rdKafkaError(wrapping: error))
                     return
                 }
+                defer {
+                    rd_kafka_metadata_destroy(metadata)
+                }
                 continuation.resume(returning: KafkaMetadata(metadata: metadata))
             }
         }